Euro 2024: Erdogan condemns UEFA’s ‘political’ decision, praises Türkiye’s effort

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who watched the Euro 2024 quarterfinals Türkiye-Netherlands match in Berlin, answered journalists’ questions on the plane back from Germany.

President Erdogan stated that UEFA’s decision on Türkiye’s Merih Demiral, who made a gray wolf salute during his goal celebration, was political and cast a shadow over the championship.

President Erdogan criticized the decision regarding Demiral’s punishment, saying, “This explanation is not possible; it is a completely political decision. This decision has darkened consciences.”

‘This is directed at Turkish nation’

Expressing his reactions to Demiral’s punishment, Erdogan added that this punishment was also a punishment for the Turkish country: “Within the excitement of that goal and the subsequent goals scored in Türkiye, the punishment given to Merih for making the wolf sign, which is legendary for us, is not just for Merih. It is actually a punishment directed at the structure of the Turkish nation.”

The West’s approach to us in terms of mentality has never changed until today. The West has continued with the same mentality and continues to do so.

President Erdogan

Evaluating the Türkiye-Netherlands match, Erdogan added: “Despite all these negatives, our national football team almost uprooted a football tradition like the Netherlands tonight.”

“We watched an exciting, fiercely contested match. We scored the first goal very early and controlled the game for a long time. Especially in the last ten minutes of the match, we couldn’t capitalize on several important goal opportunities,” he said.

“Despite all the efforts of our national team, unfortunately, we couldn’t make it to the top four teams advancing to the semifinals. What can we say, it was meant to be this way. I sincerely congratulate our national team, who did their best until the last second and gave us great excitement and pride,” he added.