Although Uefa will initiate investigations into the match against Albania following the military salute of the Turkish national team, a group of Turkish players saluted their foreheads after the European Championship qualifier against France.
Photographs show some of Merih Demiral's defender Merih Demiral standing in line in front of the bleachers holding his flat hand to his temple. Already in the equalizer of the Bundesliga pros Kaan Ayhan Demiral had shown the military salute. Apparently different from Ayhan: On television pictures can be seen how the player of Fortuna Dusseldorf cheers only in the direction of the fans and then turns off.
Demiral tried Ayhan then apparently also to encourage the military salute. In the pictures a violent argument between both players is to be seen. After a brief discussion within the jubilee, Ayhan ran back into his own half.
In the pictures after the game Ayhan is also not to identify, as well as Ayhan's teammate at Fortuna Dusseldorf, Kenan Karaman.
After the game against Albania Fortuna Dusseldorf had published a statement in which the club distances itself from any "supposedly politically motivated actions". The statement stated that both actors had asserted that "it was merely a statement of solidarity for soldiers and their loved ones, coupled with a desire to return to their families healthy again".
Military salute after game against Albania
"We know Kaan Ayhan and Kenan Karaman for a long time," said Dusseldorf sports director Lutz Pfannenstiel in the statement. "We are convinced they had no choice but to make a political statement, and both players stand for the values our club lives on."
The Turkish players caused a scandal with their greetings during and after the game against Albania, as they manifestly expressed their solidarity with the soldiers who are part of the highly controversial Turkish military offensive in northern Syria. The operation is criticized internationally sharply. The Uefa forbids political signs, no matter in what way.
In Germany had caused a stir, because the German national players Ilkay Gündogan and Emre Can had licked pictures of Turkish internationals on Instagram.