The output of Mesut Ozil of the German football team Stokes debate on integration

BERLIN – Germany woke up Monday at a national debate on integration, racism and sport, announcing that one of its most successful footballers Famous left the national team, claiming to be a victim of bigotry and hypocrisy. 19659002] Mesut Ozil, star of the world champion team in 2014, announced his resignation in a long-running media series after enduring weeks of criticism for posing for a photo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, "

" I'm German when you win, but I'm an immigrant when you lose, "writes Ozil, who was born in Germany to parents. who had immigrated from Turkey.

Ozil, 29, was a symbol of modern German football and, by extension, a modern and diverse Germany – an offensive midfielder who was voted player of the year five times by German fans and played in the national team for nearly a decade. His sudden departure from the national team has raised long questions about ethnic identity in Germany and the intersection of sport and politics.

"It is disturbing that a great German footballer like Mesut Ozil no longer feels in his country." The Federal Minister of Justice, Katarina Barley, wrote on Twitter shortly thereafter the publication of the decision Sunday, referring to the German acronym of the German Football Association

The sports journalist Martin Schneider wrote in the influential daily Süddeutsche Zeitung that, more than the output of the tournament, "the end of Mesut Ozil in the German national team is the real defeat of the summer". [19659002] In May, Mr. Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan, another teammate of origin Turkey's autocratic leader, Erdogan, who was campaigning for re-election, prompted some to question whether Mr. Ozil should be part of the national team, and the image has been outright criticized as a partisan, in a country where 9, great sports figures are expected to act as apolitical models

The National Multicultural Team of France has not sparked the same kind of debate about race and identity this year. He helped, of course, the team to win the tournament, bringing back the World Cup 20 years after the country's first victory in 1998.

Comments on French players, some of which are African origin, have mainly focused on but comments from abroad aroused reactions – including an exchange between comedian Trevor Noah, host of the "Daily Show", and Gerard Araud, l & # 39; 39; Ambassador of France in Washington

. Noah, a native of South Africa who had proudly declared after the victory that "Africa had won the World Cup", was quickly reprimanded by Mr. Araud, who wrote on Twitter and even in an official letter that the Show "the host had misunderstood the cultural model of France."

Turkish officials quickly celebrated Mr. Ozil's decision to leave the German team. Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul wrote on Twitter that Mr. Ozil had "kicked his best goal against the Fascist virus, leaving the German national team."

A former president of the German Football Association, Theo Zwanziger, called the resignation "a major setback for the efforts of integration beyond football in our country", and said that the episode was likely to Send a message that people of immigrant origin were "Germans of second class. "

Ozil's statement about this infamous image has reached a wide audience – he has 23 million followers on Twitter, more than any of his former teammates, and Heavy news has drawn many other people to his side. Mr Ozil, under contract with the Arsenal football club in Britain until 2021, wrote his message in English, guaranteeing broad readership outside of Germany

whether intentionally or not, the Mr. Ozil's words on social media echo those of another German. In 1965, Albert Einstein declared in a speech in Paris: "If my theory of relativity proves effective, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen. of the world. If my theory turns out to be wrong, France will say that I am a German and that Germany will declare that I am Jewish. "