Turkish football ultras have called on fans in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium to show the controversial wolf salute during their team’s European Championship quarter-final against the Netherlands. All supporters in the stands are invited to make the gesture during the national anthem, according to a call on the X platform.
Turkish national player Merih Demiral celebrated his second goal in the European Championship round of 16 against Austria with the so-called wolf salute, the origin of which is attributed to a right-wing extremist movement. He is therefore facing a ban.
The scandal surrounding the gesture has also caused a great deal of political uproar in recent days. The Turkish Foreign Ministry described the UEFA investigation into Demiral as unacceptable. The Turkish ultra group stressed that the wolf salute was not racist, but rather “the national symbol of Turkishness”.
Police speak of “ultimate high-risk game”
The wolf salute usually expresses affiliation or sympathy with the Turkish right-wing extremist Ülkücü movement and its ideology. In Turkey, it is used by the ultra-nationalist MHP party, which is a partner of the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In the wake of growing nationalism, representatives of the political center have recently also used the symbol to appeal to voters from more nationalist circles. One example is the then Erdogan challenger and center-left politician Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the 2023 presidential election campaign. In Germany, the Ülkücü movement is being monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Amid the furore surrounding Demiral’s gesture, Erdogan has announced his attendance at Saturday’s quarter-final in Berlin. A spokesman for the Berlin police union described the match as a “non plus ultra high-risk game”.
