German when he won, an immigrant when he lost – why Mesut Ozil turned his back on Germany

For all the speeches of Mesut Ozil and a lot of images, that's another one that perhaps reveals the most of all.

After Germany's fall in the World Cup this summer, Ozil posts an image of himself leaving the field with a film crew in his face. "I need time to put it back" read the caption next to the hashtag "Say no to racism". It was the first time Ozil had used it but it would not be the last.

Having already left the World Cup after the group stage, it hurts so much. We were not good enough. I will need some time to put it back. #SayNoToRacism #Worldcup #Russia2018 #M1O pic.twitter.com/mFOOhYQZen

– Mesut Özil (@ MesutOzil1088) June 29, 2018

The Criticism is not new to Ozil and he has seen a lot since May when a photo of the player and the German international Ilkay Gundogan met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London before the tournament. While Gundogan was quickly trying to cushion the rising wave of negativity against the pair, Ozil chose to remain silent and in this void, his critics came back renewed once he and his teammates failed so spectacularly in Russia.

Social media is often a tool for athletes to woo attention or to sign sponsorship agreements, but sometimes they can also offer a concrete insight into their lives. Just three days after his last Ozil posted again, this time a message to his girlfriend with her smiling by his side as they took advantage of a holiday. "You make me smile even when my world turns backwards," he writes. The smiles seemed authentic, an obvious result of some isolation from the outside world. Yet, four days later, things got darker again.

Speaking with Die Welt, general manager of the German national team, Oliver Bierhoff, threw the Arsenal star under the bus stating that Ozil 's decision to to be quiet after the Erdogan fiasco nearly jeopardized his place in Russia. Two days later, Reinhard Grindel, president of the DFB, is eager to ask Ozil to explain it. "For me, it's absolutely clear," he noted, "Once he's back from vacation, and with his own interests in mind, he should make his point of view." Germany had its scapegoat.

Exactly two weeks after the outbreak of Grindel, Ozil responded by saying that the meeting with Erdogan had "no political intention" before attacking the German media who, according to the player, had used his Turkish heritage to promote their far right. propaganda against immigrants in Germany. Ozil cited the contrasting tone used to describe the public meeting of Lothar Matthaus with Vladimir Putin, who received very little media criticism, before claiming that the national press had turned Germany against him.

The player then turned to Grindel himself. had agreed to draw a line under the test after the tournament, but was again publicly criticizing him. Ozil, in the last part of a three-part statement, then suggested that he was "German when we win, but I'm an immigrant when we lose." Lamenting the past month, Ozil then concluded that he would leave the national team "

For some this may sound pretty dramatic, but for Ozil, it is only the last chapter of the year. a turbulent saga surrounding his relationship with Germany. Raised in Gelsenkirchen as a third generation of Turkish immigrants, he has always had a career in which he has always had to express his commitment to the country of which he was born and raised, but for many, he does not have a single career. never really managed to integrate it. [19659004] In 2010, a year after his international career, Ozil felt compelled to explain why he had never sung the German national anthem. "Although I do not sing, I identify myself 100% with Germany." In 2015, he was getting tired of the way his legacy was still high. While noting the constant use of the term "German-Turkish", Ozil said: "Nobody calls Sami Khedira" German-Tunisian "and Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose are not" German poles ". Many people forget that I was born in Gelsenkirchen and grew up in Germany.

If Ozil has the impression of being distinguished, it is because he is there. Or, at least, people of his ethnicity are. After the Second World War, Turkish immigrants moved to Germany as Gastarbeiter or "guest workers" to help rebuild the country. However, despite the initial plan that most would return once their job ended, many will stay and settle. The country tried to deny the first or second generation of Turkish citizens in its own right, but in 1995 the laws were changed to give them dual nationality. Ozil, who would have been seven years old at the time, would have been one of the first in his family to acquire equal citizenship rights.

Although he was courted by Turkey from an early age, Ozil has always been determined to represent Germany at all levels. And since his debut for the senior team in 2009, the midfielder has characterized a modern and multicultural Germany that would win the World Cup with a team composed of dual nationality players. Despite Grindel's claims in 2004 that "multiculturalism is actually a mess," Ozil has proven in the 92 matches of the national team that a player can actually, as he has said Sunday, having "two hearts": a German and a Turk.

"Say No to Racism" was a reference, he says, to a German fan calling him a "Turkish pig" during the tournament. Since then, fans, some of the media, its general manager of the national team and the president of the German federation have all taken the initiative to call him and suggest all kinds of & # 39; 39; ulterior motives. Even Matthaus, the man who was happy to dine with Putin, suggested that Ozil "does not look happy in Germany's shirt."

The five-time German player of the year has become a convenient target. Not because of his form, what he said or a bad attitude on the ground, but because of his ethnicity. And for Ozil, a player who has always had to remind the country of his birth that he was indeed German, he could not bear it anymore.

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