In the European Football Championship (European Cup) match between Turkey and Austria this morning, Turkish player Merih Demiral, who scored two important goals for Turkey and helped the team win 2-1 against Austria, made a controversial gesture that was considered a symbol of Turkey's ultra-nationalism while celebrating.
At present, UEFA has announced that it will investigate the matter.
As shown in the picture below, after scoring an important goal for the Turkish team, Demiral made a wolf-headed gesture towards the Turkish fans as he celebrated.
According to past reports by a number of Western mainstream media, this wolf head gesture is not ordinary, and the gesture is the "spiritual totem" of the Turkish far-right organization "Gray Wolf", symbolizing a rather extreme nationalist ideology in Turkey.
Among them, according to Deutsche Welle's report last year, this ideology is fascist, not only advocating "Great Turkism" and Turkish supremacy, but also treating Kurds, Armenians, Jews and Christians as enemies. Those who follow this extremism have also carried out numerous murders and acts of violence with terrorist overtones. Deutsche Welle also said that, according to German intelligence, the ultimate ideal of the "Gray Wolves" group is to create a country that spans Europe and Asia, is led by the Turks, and belongs exclusively to the Turks.
The group has also been infiltrating Europe for years, promoting its ideas through Turkish immigrants. At present, some European countries, including France, have successively blocked the group's wolf head gesture, or the organization itself. Countries such as Germany are also keeping a close eye on the group's movements – after all, there are many Turkish immigrants in Germany, and even Mesut Ozil, a former key player of the German football team, has been found to have a "gray wolf" tattoo.
However, because the "Gray Wolves" group has a very close relationship with the Turkish Nationalist Action Party, which has been one of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most important allies for many years, the blocking of the group by some European countries often attracts Turkey's dissatisfaction.
In short, after the Turkish player Demiral made a "wolf head" gesture in the European Championship now, the European media quickly paid attention to the matter, judging from the video of the post-match press conference, at least two media outlets asked Demiral about it.
Demiral said that he made the gesture to express "pride" in being a Turk, which was "normal", and declared that he hoped to have the opportunity to "continue to do it" in the future. He also said that he saw the Turkish fans make the gesture first and decided to interact with the fans.
But according to reports from multiple Western media outlets, including the Associated Press, angry Austrian fans have reported Demiral's gesture to UEFA. Austria banned the wolf head gesture in its country in 2019 on the grounds that it symbolizes extremism.
UEFA also announced on the afternoon of July 3, Beijing time, that it would investigate the matter. Once Demiral is found to have a problem, he will be banned outright. (Source: Global Times)