Turkish fans heading to the quarter-final match of European Cup against Netherlands They made the same nationalist hand gesture (‘wolf salute’) that led to Merih Demiral’s dismissal and subsequent two-match ban. In addition to showing it before the match, they also did it inside the stadium, during the Turkish national anthem before the match.
Berlin police said the gesture was “shown en masse” by fans on their way to the Olympiastadion and that’s why they stopped their march and asked them to stop doing it. Fans are asked to come individually to the game, provided they have a ticket to attend. “When many people make this gesture, it becomes a political demonstration and a soccer march is not a political demonstration,” police spokeswoman Valeska Jakubowski told The Associated Press.
The fans perform a gesture used by Turkish nationalists and associated with the Turkish ultranationalist organization Ulku Ocaklari, better known as the ‘Gray Wolves’. After the match against Austria, in which Demiral made the gesture, diplomatic relations between Turkey and Germany were severed. The ‘Gray Wolves’ group was founded as the youth wing of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement party, or MHP, which is currently aligned with Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party.
In the decades after its founding in the 1960s, the group was accused of engaging in politically motivated violence, mainly against left-wing groups. German authorities believe the group has around 12,100 members in the country.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
