After critical comments by Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) about the wolf salute of Turkish national player Merih Demiral in the European Championship round of 16 match against Austria, Turkey summoned the German ambassador on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office confirmed this to the FAZ. “We will also discuss the incident with the Turkish ambassador tomorrow,” she continued. The Minister of the Interior had “admitted himself to the issue on behalf of the Federal Government.” Faeser wrote on the platform X about Demiral’s victory gesture, “Symbols of Turkish right-wing extremists have no place in our stadiums.”
It is “completely unacceptable” to use the European Football Championship “as a platform for racism”. Demiral celebrated his second goal with the so-called wolf salute. The gesture is the identifying symbol of the right-wing extremist organization “Grey Wolves”, but it is also used in Turkey as a general patriotic symbol.
Mainstream in Turkey
The Turkish Foreign Ministry wrote that “the reactions of the German authorities” were “xenophobic”. Demiral’s gesture was a “historical and cultural symbol” that was not directed against anyone. The ministry also referred to a document from the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution from September 2023, which states that “not everyone who uses this greeting” is a Turkish right-wing extremist.
In fact, the excitement over Merih Demiral’s wolf salute is not nearly as great in Turkey as it is in Germany. This is partly because right-wing nationalism has long been part of the mainstream in Turkish politics. The mother party of the “Grey Wolves”, the MHP, formed an alliance with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2015 and has been in power ever since.
Another reason is that the wolf salute has changed its meaning in Turkey in recent decades. Even the former opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu used it during the election campaign to appeal to nationalist-minded voters. This is particularly notable because Kılıçdaroğlu belongs to the Alevi religious minority.
“The wolf salute is not the Turkish version of the Hitler salute. It is more complicated,” says Jannes Tessmann, office manager of the Mercator Foundation in Istanbul. On the one hand, the salute is the symbol of the Turkish right-wing extremists, who are responsible for many murders and acts of violence against leftists and ethnic and religious minorities. Most of these were committed in the 1970s and 1980s.
Expression of a “broader political identity”
“This is particularly serious on the anniversary of Sivas,” says Tessmann. On June 2, 1993, the same day as the round of 16 match between Turkey and Austria, 35 people were killed in an arson attack on an Alevi cultural festival in the city of Sivas. “On the other hand,” says Tessmann, “the wolf salute is used by many other groups as a patriotic-nationalist symbol because the wolf plays a central role in the historical legend of the Turks’ ancestry.” This is why the symbol is “socially acceptable” in Turkey.
Murat Somer, a political scientist at Özyeğin University in Istanbul, agrees. The wolf salute is used by some as an expression of a “quasi-fascist ideology,” while others use it as an expression of a “broader political identity.” Depending on the context and the person, the gesture can mean a legitimate patriotic expression of opinion or a justification of violence against minorities. The wolf salute has been “normalized” in the wake of the rise of Turkish nationalism. This also happened with the help of Turkish mainstream parties, which adopted some symbols and discourses in order to wrest them from the monopoly of right-wing extremists. For example, opposition politician Kılıçdaroğlu used the wolf salute in the election campaign “to overcome the polarization of society,” says the political scientist.
Wolf salute and Atatürk quote
The symbol is problematic because it can be perceived as offensive by Kurds, Alevis and leftists, says Somer. However, many Turks are not aware of the ideological meaning of the gesture. This is why a majority see UEFA’s disciplinary proceedings against Demiral as “a form of discrimination against Turks”.
MHP chairman Devlet Bahçeli also struck a similar note, comparing the UEFA investigation with recent anti-Turkish riots in northern Syria.
By the way, Demiral didn’t just post his victory pose with the wolf salute on the platform X. He wrote: “How happy is he who says ‘I am Turkish’.” Every Turkish child learns this saying by the founder of the state, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, at school.
