Mesut Özil finally speaks up about debate revolving around photo with Erdoğan

BERLIN – Agence France-Presse

Footballer Mesut Özil said on July 22 that he had no regrets about his photograph with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that sparked questions about his loyalty to Germany’s national squad ahead of the World Cup.

Breaking his silence over the snapshot that caused outrage during the tournament, the Arsenal midfielder said in a statement on Twitter that he was loyal to both his Turkish and German origins and insisted he did not intend to make a political statement.

“Like many people, my ancestry traces back to more than one country. Whilst I grew up in Germany, my family background has its roots firmly based in Turkey,” he said.

“I have two hearts, one German and one Turkish.”

Özil said he had first met Erdoğan in 2010 after the president and German Chancellor Angela Merkel watched a Germany-Turkey match together.

“Since then, our paths have crossed a lot of times around the globe,” he said.

“I’m aware that the picture of us caused a huge response in the German media, and whilst some people may accuse me of lying or being deceitful, the picture we took had no political intentions.”

Despite the timing of the picture with teammate İlkay Gündoğan and Erdoğan -- shortly before the president won re-election in a poll endowing him with sweeping new powers -- “it wasn’t about politics or elections, it was about me respecting the highest office of my family’s country,” Özil said.

“My job is a football player and not a politician, and our meeting was not an endorsement of any policies,” he added.

“I get that this may be hard to understand, as in most cultures the political leader cannot be thought of as being separate from the person. But in this case it is different. Whatever the outcome would’ve been in this previous election, or the election before that, I would have still taken the picture.”

Özil, 29, came in for stinging criticism in Germany for their shock first-round defeat at the World Cup.

Team boss Oliver Bierhoff suggested after the debacle that Germany should have considered dropping Özil after his failure to explain himself over the Erdoğan picture.

Bierhoff later backtracked, saying that he “was wrong” to put Özil under undue pressure, but the picture continued to draw scorn from fans on social media.

Germany is home to more than three million people of Turkish origin.