A comment piece in influential weekly Die Zeit in the wake of the footballer’s resignation from the national team argued: “In Özil, we are also losing faith in a progressive society.” The piece continued: “His withdrawal is a fatal symbol in a time and a country in which rightwing parties are getting ever louder and people on town squares call for refugees to drown in the sea.”
Alice Weidel, co-leader of far-right Alternative für Deutschland, on Monday criticised Özil as “a typical example of the failed integration of far too many immigrants from Turkish Muslim cultural circles”.
Turkish politicians were quick to endorse the footballer’s resignation as a goal for their own side, with sport minister Mehmet Kasapoğlu tweeting: “We support the honourable attitude of our brother Mesut Özil.”
Cem Özdemir, a Green MP of Turkish heritage who is one of Germany’s most vocal critics of Erdoğan’s government, nonetheless said the footballer’s resignation sent out a troubling message, adding: “It is fatal when young German-Turks now get the impression that there isn’t a place for them in the German national side. Strength lies in diversity, not homogeneity. That’s how we won the World Cup in 2014, and France did this year.”
Social Democrat justice minister Katarina Barley, who holds dual German and British citizenship, said: “It is an alarming sign when a great German footballer like Mesut Özil is no longer wanted in his country because of racism and doesn’t feel represented by the DFB.”
Sawsan Chebli, a state secretary of Palestinian descent in the Berlin state parliament, tweeted: “Özil’s departure is a confession of failure for our country. Will we ever belong? My doubts are growing by the day. Am I allowed to say that as a state secretary? It is, at any rate, what I feel. And it hurts.
