Turkey salutes Özil from German squad

Mesut Özil announced Sunday night that he will no longer play for the German team, citing " the racism and disrespect he has suffered. A decision hailed by some Turkish officials. Abdülhamit Gül, the Minister of Justice, set the record on Twitter: "I congratulate Mesut Özil who, on leaving the German national team, scored the best goal against the Fascism. "

His Sports counterpart Mehmet Kasapoglu followed suit, claiming to support" fully the honorable position of [son] Brother Mesut Özil ". He accompanied this message with a picture of the Turkish-born international posing with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It was precisely because of a similar picture (see below) that the controversy began in May, during the Turkish presidential campaign. Despite his excuses via his coach Joachim Low, Özil had suffered violent insults, supported by the German Federation and its president, Reinhard Grindel. "For [eux] I'm German when we win, but an immigrant when we lose," the player wrote in a statement.

Feeling "more welcome to the selection", the Arsenal midfielder did not hesitate to recall his attachment to his Turkish origins: "J ' I have certainly grown up in Germany, but my family history has its roots in Turkey. I have two hearts, a German and a Turkish. However, in a tweet published earlier in the day, he wrote that this photo had "no political intention". According to him, "it was just a question of respecting the highest dignitary of my country (…), not to disrespect the roots of my ancestors, who would have been proud of what I have become today. "