Flashback: Berlin 2010, an international match between Germany and Turkey. When Mesut Özil from Gelsenkirchen had possession of the ball, the Turkish fans, many of whom were German Turks, booed. When the then 21-year-old scored a goal, he refrained from cheering, probably so as not to provoke anyone further. Turkey had courted him for a long time, and he decided to wear the German national team jersey. Recep Tayip Erdogan and Angela Merkel were sitting in the VIP box.
The German head of government then engaged in symbolic taiwan rcs data politics of the highest order by congratulating Özil, with a photographer at her side, in the dressing room on the 3-0 victory - and at the same time congratulating Germany on being a modern and open society whose ambassadors and role models were ideally suited to young men with talented football skills and Turkish roots. Now, eight years later, a photo has once again become a symbol of the current social mood in Germany (and not only there):
The picture of Ilkay Gündogan and Mesut Özil, two German football stars with Turkish roots , with the Turkish President Erdogan, taken in May of this year at an event in a London hotel - shortly before the World Cup in Russia, shortly before the elections in Turkey. It sparked storms of indignation. The fuss could certainly have been calmed if many people - the football association, the national coach.