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On Tuesday, Turkish defender Merih Demiral celebrated his second goal against Austria at the Euros with a wolf salute. The sign has prompted a UEFA investigation against the player. It has snowballed into a political spat between Germany and Turkey. But why is this hand gesture so controversial? read more
 "Why has this led to a diplomatic row with Germany?")
Turkey's Merih Demiral celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during a round of 16 match between Austria and Turkey at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Leipzig, Germany on Tuesday. UEFA has launched an investigation into Turkey soccer player Merih Demiral's “alleged inappropriate behaviorur” after he celebrated a goal at Euro 2024 by displaying a hand sign associated with an ultra-nationalist group. AP
The ongoing European Championships, also known as the Euros, are mired in a new row — one that has led to a clash between Germany and Turkey. It has also led to Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) officials to open an investigation into the issue.
On Tuesday (July 2), Turkey’s national football team defeated Austria in the Round of 16, and qualified for the quarter-finals. However, defender Merih Demiral, who scored both of Turkey’s goals in the 2-1 win, has created a scandal of sorts when he celebrated his winning strike by making a gesture known as the “wolf salute”, associated with the Turkish right-wing extremist group “Grey Wolves.”
What exactly is this wolf salute? Why has it led to a clash between the two nations? Here’s what we found out.
Demiral’s wolf salute celebration
During Tuesday’s Euro match in Leipzig between Austria and Turkey, 26-year-old Merih Demiral celebrated his second goal against Austria with a controversial salute, in which one or both hands are made to mimic the shape of a wolf’s head — known as the wolf salute. The gesture is associated with the far-right extremist group Grey Wolves, who are linked to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Turkey’s ruling coalition party.
Following the match, UEFA , football’s governing body in Europe, announced it was investigating Demiral for “alleged inappropriate behaviour.” A statement on the same said: “An investigation has been opened in accordance with Article 31(4) of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations in relation to the alleged inappropriate behaviour of the Turkish Football Federation player, Merih Demiral. Further information regarding this matter will be made available in due course.”
UEFA could ban Demiral from the team ahead of its clash with The Netherlands on Saturday for his gesture.
However, Demiral has defended his use of the salute, in which both hands are made to resemble wolves with pointed noses and ears. “I had a specific celebration in mind, something connected to my Turkish identity,” he said. “I am incredibly proud to be Turkish, and I felt that pride deeply after scoring. I wanted to express that, and I’m very happy I did.”
🇹🇷 Ne mutlu Türküm diyene! pic.twitter.com/4K3kVPFxgW
— Merih Demiral (@Merihdemiral) July 2, 2024He added that he saw supporters also making the sign in the stands and wanted to join them.
Germany clash with Turkey
The footballer’s wolf salute has also ignited a diplomatic brouhaha between the country and host nation Germany. On Wednesday (July 3), Turkey summoned the German ambassador to protest Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser’s condemnation of Demiral’s goal celebration.
Faeser had urged the UEFA to punish the footballer for making the sign. Taking to X, she had written: “The symbols of Turkish right-wing extremists have no place in our stadiums. Using the soccer European Championship as a platform for racism is completely unacceptable.”
Federal minister Cem Özdemir, a German politician of Turkish descent, had also echoed similar sentiments, saying the gesture is “extreme right" and “stands for terror, fascism.”
However, a spokesperson for Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Faeser’s comments and UEFA’s investigation are “unacceptable.” “It would be more appropriate for those looking for racism and fascism to focus on the recent election results in different European countries,” Celik wrote on X.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the investigation as a politically motivated reaction “to the use of a historical and cultural symbol” during the goal celebration. The ministry stated that the gesture is not banned in Germany. Moreover, it said, “We consider that the reactions shown by the German authorities toward Demiral themselves contain xenophobia.”
Wolf salute’s association with far-right
But what exactly is the wolf salute’s association with the far right? The sign made by pinching the thumb, middle and ring finger together to imitate the shape of a wolf’s head is the symbol of the Grey Wolves, an ultranationalist Turkish group also known as the Idealist Hearths or Ulku Ocaklari.
They were founded as the youth wing of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, which is currently a part of Erdogan’s government.
The group is known to attack minorities in Turkey and is believed to hold hostile views against Kurdish, Armenian, Jewish and Christian people. In the 1970s, the members of this group were behind a string of violent acts, including murders.
Among the more notorious members of the Grey Wolves is Mehmet Ali Ağca, the gunman behind the assassination attempt 40 years ago against Pope John Paul II, said to be “in revenge” for an attack on the Grand Mosque of Mecca.
According to Germany’s domestic intelligence services, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the aim of the Grey Wolves is to establish a homogeneous state of all Turkic peoples under Turkish leadership — from the Balkans to western China.
The activities of this group has led several European nations to ban it. In 2019, Austria banned the group and even the wolf salute. The following year, France banned the Grey Wolves, accusing it of “extremely violent” actions and threats.
In Germany too, the group has been flagged as a potential threat to the German constitution. Authorities have flagged down how the Grey Wolves promote pan-Turkish ideologies marinated in racial superiority theories, antisemitism, and hatred of multiple “enemies,” such as the Kurds, Alevis, and Armenians, and pose a threat to the principle of equality, reports the New Lines Magazine.
As of today, security authorities in Germany believe there are some 11,000 Grey Wolves members in the country, around 9,500 of them organised in associations.
When asked about the investigation against Demiral, MHP leader Devlet Bahceli said on X that the UEFA’s investigation was “biased and wrong”.
“The Grey Wolf sign made by our son, Merih, after netting the ball is the Turkish nation’s message to the world.”
With inputs from agencies
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English (US) ·