On Friday, UEFA said it had determined that Demiral “violated basic rules of decent conduct” and decided to ban the Turkish player for “using sports events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the sport of football into disrepute.”
Turkish state media TRT immediately criticized UEFA’s move, labeling it a “scandalous decision.” The Turkish foreign ministry earlier defended the gesture as “not banned in Germany” and described the reactions by the tournament hosts as “xenophobic.”
As the diplomatic dispute heated up, Erdoğan scrapped plans to attend a summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Azerbaijan on Saturday, and said he would fly to Berlin instead to support Turkey at its quarterfinal match against the Netherlands.
“Does anybody ask why the German national jersey has an eagle, or the French jersey a rooster?” Erdoğan told reporters on a flight from Kazakhstan on Thursday. “Merih showed his excitement with that gesture,” he said.
“Hopefully, the whole issue will be resolved on Saturday. Let us leave the field with a win and go to the next round,” Erdoğan said.
If Turkey wins on Saturday and progresses, Demiral will also miss the semifinal match.
