His figure no longer sparkled on the playing fields, but the German caused more and more reactions on other stages.
“They burn their Qurans. They close their mosques. They ban their schools. They kill their holy men. Men are forced into camps and their families are forced to live with Chinese men. Women are forced to marry Chinese men.”.
It is not the statement of a head of state, nor that of a political exile, nor that of a famous activist. The text was written by Mesut Özil in 2019. He did it on his social networksas a complaint, in which he tries to explain how, according to his position, in the Xinjiang region (China), they mistreat the Uyghur Muslim minority.
Ozil took advantage of the power football gave him to be a sounding board. That is or seems to be his new mission. Naturally, those famous sayings got a strong and immediate response: China Central Television (CCTV) decided not to broadcast his then team Arsenal’s Premier League match (against Manchester City) the following weekend and the footballer was removed from the Chinese versions of the popular Pro Evolution football (PES). NetEaseone of the most famous Internet companies in the Asian country and the one responsible for distributing the game from konamiHe also warned that he was considering removing ex-Real Madrid from the English club’s squad for “attacking the feelings of Chinese fans and violating the sporting spirit of peace and love”.
Mesut Ozil disappears from FIFA Online and Pro Evolution Soccer in China
Arsenal, at the time tried to distance himself from his player’s comments, but it was already too late. In fact, it is already too late for any kind of event: For a long time, Ozil was no longer that talented footballer to immerse himself in a different world that does not have much to do with goals and assists.
In 2019, the German star of Turkish origin, without going further, married Turkish model Amine Gülse in Istanbul. What’s strange? The ceremony had a rather unusual witness: the president of Turkey himself, Recep Tayyip Erdoganwhat appears to be yet another declaration of intent, in a region where peace is not assured.
His relationship with Erdogan had already attracted several criticisms in Germany, which is why he eventually resigned from his national team, with which he won the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. “I am a German when we win, an immigrant when we lose… It It is with great pain and after much reflection that due to recent events I will not play for Germany while having this feeling of racism and disrespect,” he stated on the day of his resignation, in July 2018.
Naturally, this comment caused even more controversy. “You complained about racism in Germany, but… you say nothing about racism in Turkey?”accused the former German football player Deniz Naki, European champion under 19 (2008), a descendant of the Kurds.
Source: Goal