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Ankara : President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday he supported Mesut Ozil's decision to leave the German national team for reasons of racism during a phone call with the football star Turkish, provoking a controversy Germany.
Mesut Ozil with Recep Tayyip Erdogan. AFP
Ozil surprised football this weekend by announcing that he had planned to never play for the national team again after a criticism that he found racist of a meeting with Erdogan two months ago.
Warm applause in Turkey, whose government has long campaigned against what Ankara views as a rise of Islamophobia in Europe
"Last night, I spoke to Mesut, his attitude is totally patriotic, it is an absolutely commendable behavior ". quoted by the Anadolu public news agency.
"I kiss her on the eyes," says Erdogan, using a Turkish term of affection for a loved one or a friend.
"It is not possible to accept this kind of racism, Islamophobic attitude towards a young man who gave and added so much to the success of the German national team, which can not really not be accepted, "he added.
& # 39; Intolerable & # 39;
Ozil, who was born in Germany of a parent of Turkish origin, had faced heavy criticism at the World Cup, including on the controversial photo of the country. Erdogan in May with a month ahead of the presidential and parliamentary polls in Turkey.
Arsenal midfielder, a key member of the Cup team, criticized the bosses of the German Football Federation (DFB), the sponsors and the media.
He lamented the lack of support from DFB President Reinhard Grindel, and said: "I have two hearts, a German and a Turkish." In the eyes of Grindel and his followers, I'm German when we win, but I'm an immigrant when we lose, "wrote 29-year-old Ozil.
But the association said Monday in a statement that it rejected "the notion that the DFB is associated with racism. "
His withdrawal from shock surprised Germany 's Joachim Loew head coach by surprise." Neither the national coach nor I was informed at the time. advance, "confirmed Loew Harun Arslan's agent to the German daily Bild
The German international Ilkay Gundogan of Manchester City was also present at the London meeting with Erdogan. visit of the president in Britain, as well as the attacker Cenk Tosun of Everton, born in Germany but representing Turkey.
"How do you explain this understanding which does not accept me of take pictures with Mesut, Ilkay and Cenk Tosun of Turkish origin? in London, it is intolerable, "said Erdogan
" You are not alone "
In the ancestral city of Devrek in the Zonguldak region on the Turkish coast of Black Sea, local authorities have changed a giant image on "Mesut Ozil Avenue" to show the photo with Erdogan rather than Ozil in his German kit. "We are against racism, religious discrimination and we condemn those who act in this way," said Mayor Mustafa Semerci, ac "I'm not alone, Devrek, Turkey and even the world is with you", he added.
Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul congratulated Ozil on Monday, stating that he had "scored the finest goal against the virus of fascism."
whose leader Yildirim Demiroren is a close ally of Erdogan said on Tuesday that he was condemning Ozil's treatment.
"Any player, whether or not he is in the public eye, has the right to be protected against abuse, discrimination and messages"
Ozil, who has now joined the tour Preseason of the Gunners in Singapore, released Tuesday his first tweet since the beginning of the fury
"Pre-season work", he simply wrote above a picture of himself. sprinting, without making any reference to the tumult
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