Turkey's national football team was triumphant on Tuesday, defeating Austria in a Euro 2024 round of 16 match in Leipzig, Germany and qualifying for the quarterfinals. But defender Merih Demiral, who scored both of Turkey's goals in the 2-1 win, drew attention for non-sporting reasons when he celebrated his winning strike with a hand gesture associated with far-right, ultranationalist symbolism.
UEFA, European football's governing body, has opened an investigation into Demiral, who could face a suspension. This is because the so-called wolf salute — pinching thumb, middle and ring finger together to imitate the shape of a wolf's head — is the symbol of the Gray Wolves, an ultranationalist Turkish group also known as the Idealist Hearths or Ulku Ocaklari.
The gesture is legally prohibited in Austria but not in Germany, where a similar ban is being discussed.
The symbol made headlines in Germany nearly a year ago after Mesut Özil, a former German national team star, caused a stir when a photo with his fitness coach revealed his tattoo of a howling wolf and three crescent moons — typical Gray Wolves symbols. The design was at the center of discussions in Germany, where he was born and raised in a Turkish immigrant family.
The animal is an important symbol for Turkish right-wing extremists. In mythology, a gray wolf saved the ancestors of the Turkish peoples from their enemies and helped them........