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Normally on Saturday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would be in Azerbaijan. The plans have changed and, as everything shows, he will be in Berlin, specifically in the Olympic Stadium of the German capital, for the match between Turkey and the Netherlands with the aim of qualifying for the semi-final phase of the European Football Championship, which is being held in Germany.

He wants to support “his team” after the huge off-field dimension of the Gray Wolves’ nationalistic salute by Turkish national team player Merih Demiral in the match against Austria.

Diplomatic effervescence in Ankara, Berlin

However, the surrounding political and diplomatic atmosphere is already tense, causing a new brawl between Ankara and Berlin. Shortly before the arrival of Tayyip Erdogan in Berlin, the diplomatic developments are rapid. First, the German ambassador to Turkey, Jürgen Schulz, was summoned to Ankara after the statements of the German Minister of the Interior, Nancy Fesser, on the case, condemning the gesture of the nationalist organization of the Gray Wolves in German stadiums, but statements that were considered “xenophobic” by the of Ankara.

However, Berlin’s response was immediate, with German Foreign Minister Analena Berbock also calling the Turkish ambassador in Berlin, Ahmet Basar Sen, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today for an explanation. “We discussed the incident with the Turkish ambassador,” a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the German news agency dpa. However, the case is taking on wider dimensions, with more and more German politicians calling for the ban of the Gray Wolves in Germany as well, which have been monitored for years by the German secret services.

There are growing calls for a ban on Gray Wolves

In the German parliament, both The Left and Sarah Wagenknecht’s nascent Alliance raised the issue of banning the Gray Wolves in Germany. “Only the German government looks away and doesn’t want to see that there is a problem,” Katina Schubert from the Left told the Tagesspiegel newspaper. “Secretary of the Interior Nancy Fesser should not just complain, but ban the Gray Wolves and their salute. That’s what we’re asking him to do,” said Sevim Dagdelen, foreign policy spokesperson for Sarah Wagenknecht’s Alliance.

The Green Minister of Agriculture Cem Ezdemir is also in favor of banning the Gray Wolves, while Christian Democrats (CDU) MP Stefan Heck criticized Erdogan’s visit to Berlin on Saturday for the Euro, considering it “meddling” in Germany’s domestic politics. .

The Gray Wolves count, according to official figures, over 11,000 members on German soil, while they traditionally have deep roots in local Turkish associations across Germany. Banning them in Germany, as is the case in other countries such as Austria, is difficult, because firstly they do not legally constitute an “association”, secondly many of their members are not “declared” nor “named” explicitly and thirdly a decision of the German under Internal, as has been done recently in the case of Islamist networks.

A weekend expected to be explosive

One thing is certain: that all this adds up once again to an explosive atmosphere in the German capital on the occasion of a sudden arrival of a leader who ideally would not be welcomed by Germany’s political leadership at the given moment. Also, the noise in German-Turkish relations since the “Erdogan show” last autumn in the chancellery, with wild insults about Germany and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, reminding him of German responsibility for the Holocaust against the background of developments in the Middle East, has not yet died down. East and boldly saying that “Turkey owes nothing to anyone”.

However, as far as the Union of Turkish Communities in Germany is concerned, its head, Gyokai Sofuogu, sees no reason to criticize an Erdogan visit for EURO 2024. “If Erdogan wants to come to Berlin, let him come,” he told Germaniko Editors Network. “And other presidents and kings come to their teams’ matches. When Viktor Orban came for the Hungarian national team game in Stuttgart, no one was upset.” It remains to be seen whether next to Erdogan on Saturday there will be German political representation, in what form and in what climate.