Turkish national player Merih Demiral caused a stir with his celebration gesture in the 2-1 European Championship round of 16 match against Austria. After scoring his second goal on Tuesday evening in the Leipzig stadium, the 26-year-old made the so-called wolf salute with both hands, a hand sign and symbol of the “Grey Wolves”.
The supporters of the right-wing extremist “Ülkücü movement”, which is monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany, are called “Grey Wolves”. In Turkey, the ultra-nationalist MHP is their political representative and an ally of the Islamic-conservative AKP of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Merih Demiral with controversial celebration gesture
Source: dpa/Hendrik Schmidt
Demiral scored the fastest goal in the knockout round of a European Championship in Leipzig after just 57 seconds and in the 59th minute. Turkey will play against the Netherlands in Berlin on Saturday (9 p.m.) for a place in the semi-finals of the European Championship.
