Angela Merkel pays tribute to Özil and says she respects his retirement from the national team.
"The Chancellor respects Mesut Özil's decision, for whom she has high regard. He is a great player," stated German Chancellor Angela Merkel, through the deputy spokesperson for the local government, Ulrike Demmer. Özil generated controversy by taking photos alongside the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, considered a dictator by the opposition.
EFE Agency - German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid tribute to midfielder Mesut Özil on Monday (23) and said she respects the player's position to retire from the national team, without going into the merits of the controversy that culminated in the decision.
"The Chancellor respects Mesut Özil's decision, for whom she has high regard. He is a great player," said the deputy spokesperson for the local government, Ulrike Demmer, at a press conference, highlighting that Germany is an open country that welcomes people of immigrant origin.
Just over a month ago, Özil took photos alongside the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was campaigning for election and is considered a dictator by the opposition. The images were criticized by some of the German press and triggered a crisis within the German Football Federation (DFB), a situation exacerbated by their early elimination from the World Cup.
In his farewell letter to the national team, the midfielder explained his gesture alongside Erdogan and did not mince words against the president of the DFB, Reinhard Grindel.
"I grew up in Germany. I have two hearts, one German and one Turkish. My mother taught me to always respect and never forget where I came from. In May, I met Prime Minister Erdogan in London, (but) the photo we took had no political intentions. The truth is that not meeting the president would have been disrespectful to the roots of my ancestors. For me, it didn't matter who the president was, what mattered was that he was the president," said the 29-year-old player.
"For Grindel and his supporters, I am German when we win and an immigrant when we lose. Because, despite paying taxes in Germany, donating school supplies and being a 2014 World Cup champion, I am still not accepted in society," added Özil, who reported being called by coach Joachim Löw to give explanations and even meeting with the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to discuss the case.
The former Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen midfielder also received expressions of support, including from the German Minister of Justice, Katarina Barley.
"It's an alarming sign that a great player like Özil doesn't feel wanted in his country or represented by the DFB," Barley wrote on his Twitter account.
A few days ago, the chairman of Bayern Munich's board of directors and two-time World Cup finalist, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, called Grindel incompetent. Today, it was the turn of the former DFB spokesperson, Harald Stenger, to state in an interview with the broadcaster "ZDF" that the leader is "the worst president in the federation's history".