Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan erects 'Grey Wolf' statue

The Turkish national football team defeated Austria 2-1 on July 2 during the 2024 European Championship. Merih Demiral, who scored both goals to secure the victory and was the star of the match, greeted the stands with a "Grey Wolf" gesture after his goals.

UEFA handed Merih Demiral a 2-match suspension on the grounds that he used a political symbol. Following the announcement of the penalty to the public, Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan, who had announced that he would erect a statue of Merih Demiral in the city, kept his promise.

The statue of Merih Demiral, which Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan promised to erect, was placed at the new intersection in the Karaçayır neighborhood. The statue of the famous footballer making the grey wolf gesture was unveiled with a ceremony.

"THE GREY WOLF IS THE SYMBOL OF THE TURKIC WORLD"

Stating that the Grey Wolf gesture is unique to Turks, Özcan said, "A Spanish footballer scores a goal and makes a bull gesture; there is no penalty for this. Because the bull is the symbol of the Spanish. The Grey Wolf is the symbol of the Turkic world. Why are you penalizing a footballer who makes this gesture? Why is the government remaining indifferent to this? I have difficulty understanding this. Moreover, the Grey Wolf gesture is not the symbol of MHP members or nationalists. This is a big lie. It is a symbol that has been used for hundreds of years in Central Asian Turkic republics, by Turks in Albania, Bulgaria, Iran, and Azerbaijan," he stated.

"WE ARE TRUE TURKISH NATIONALISTS"

Stating that they kept their promise, Özcan said, "We are true Turkish nationalists. We are not ethnic nationalists; we are super-identity nationalists. My brother Merih Demiral will also remove this gesture from being the political movement of a single party from now on. I repeat, the Grey Wolf symbol is the symbol of the Turkic world. I cannot stomach any party accepting it or trying to claim it as their own. I do not want anyone else to stomach it either. Therefore, we are not nationalists in name only, but nationalists in essence. We are not people who make empty promises in group meetings, calling everyone traitors, but who do not take any action. We kept our word like lions."

News Source: 12punto