Turkey's Demiral could be suspended from Oranje match over extreme right salute

The European Football Association UEFA is going to investigate a controversial gesture made by Turkish player Merih Demiral on Tuesday during the last 16 Euro 2024 match against Austria (2-1). UEFA said in a short message on its website that it is going to investigate the "alleged inappropriate behavior." Oranje faces Turkey on Saturday in the quarter-finals.

Demiral celebrated his second goal of the match with the 'wolf greeting,' a symbol of the ultranationalist and far-right Turkish group Gray Wolves. The group has been banned in France since 2020 and is being monitored in Germany.

Earlier in the tournament, UEFA suspended Albanian striker Mirlind Daku for two matches. The 26-year-old attacker of the Russian club Rubin Kazan brought football into disrepute, according to UEFA, with his misconduct after the Albanians' group match against Croatia. Daku is said to have sung insulting songs to Albanian fans using a megaphone.

The German Minister of Interior Affairs, Nancy Faeser, is furious at Demiral's gesture. "The symbols of Turkish right-wing extremists do not belong in our stadiums. Using the European Championships as a platform for racism is completely unacceptable," Faeser responded via X.

"The way that I celebrated the goal has to do with my Turkish identity," Demiral explained, who scored the first goal of the match in the first minute. "That's why I made this gesture. I saw people in the stadium also making this gesture. There was no hidden message. We are all Turks. I am very proud to be Turk, and that is the purpose of this gesture." Demiral added that he hopes to use the gesture more often to express his joy.

The Gray Wolves have ties with the ultranationalist MHP party in Turkey, which forms a government there with President Erdogan's AK Party.

Turkey will already be missing former Feyenoord players Orkun Kökcü and Ismail Yüksek for the match. They are both suspended due to picking up their second booking of the tournament in the last match.