The centre-back had possibly the greatest game of his career against Austria but landed himself in hot water over his ‘wolf salute’ celebration.
The former Juventus and current Al-Ahli star put in one of the European Championship’s all-time great displays, coming up from the back to score both goals in a 2-1 victory, while also shackling Austria’s forwards at the other end of the pitch.
However, what he did after scoring has drawn intense criticism as the 26-year-old appeared to make a gesture with both hands, which is the symbol of a far-right ultra-nationalist ‘Grey Wolves’ group.
The group is banned in France, and the wolf gesture is similarly banned in Austria. However, in Germany where the match took place there aren’t such rules.
UEFA launched an investigation into his celebration and, with a no-tolerance approach to political expressions during the championship, Demiral has been slapped with a two-game suspension, effective immediately.
It means he will miss Saturday’s last-eight clash, as well as the semi-final against England or Switzerland should his nation progress against the Dutch.
A UEFA statement read: “The Appeals Body has decided to suspend Turkish Football Federation player Merih Demiral, for a total of two (2) UEFA representative team competition matches for which he would be otherwise eligible, for failing to comply with the general principles of conduct, for violating the basic rules of decent conduct, for using sports events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the sport of football into disrepute.”
Albania’s Mirlind Daku was suspended for two matches and missed the remainder of the tournament after he was seen using a megaphone to encourage fans to shout insulting slogans about Serbia and North Macedonia.
While it was seen during TV broadcasts of the game, Demiral also posted images on social media post-match with his hands clearly in shot, and was quizzed about it by the media.
“The way I celebrated has something to do with my Turkish identity. I saw people in the stadium who also made this gesture,” he told BILD.
International human rights organisation Society for Threatened Peoples have since released a statement on the matter, saying: “To display the wolf salute so prominently on the anniversary of the Sivas massacre [an arson attack on a hotel in Sivas, Turkey in 1993 that led to 37 deaths] is an absolute scandal, and to celebrate it with a photo of the gesture on social media is a mockery of the Alevi victims of the massacre.
“We demand an apology from Merih Demiral to the millions of Alevis [a religious minority in Turkey] for whom the wolf salute is a symbol of oppression and persecution. In addition, the Turkish national team should publicly distance itself from displaying the right-wing extremist symbol.”
Demiral’s suspension is another hammer blow to Turkey and a huge boost for the Netherlands, with midfield duo Orkun Kokcu and Ismail Yuksek already suspended for multiple yellow cards.
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