The FIFA World Cup, one of the most important events in the world, is over. France defeated Croatia in the final match and won the World Cup. From many aspects, we left behind a very interesting world cup. From a football perspective, it was a tournament in which Brazil did not even reach the semi-finals. Similarly, favorites of the tournament such as Portugal and Spain also bid an early farewell. Everybody was curious about the performance of Argentina with Messi. The tournament ended early for them as well.
It is both a great success and a surprise that England, which inched toward the World Cup in 1996, ranked fourth this time after taking advantage of the fixture but was defeated by Croatia and then by Belgium.
The most controversial issue of the 2018 World Cup apart from football was the question of "how European" or "how French/German/Belgian" the football players of European teams were. Six of the 11 players in the first string of the final match of the French national team and eight players who were on the field during the final minutes of the match were French citizens but not of French origin. There were seven Muslim players on the French national team and 15 players of the team were of African origin.
The remark of Senegalese cyclist Mustafa Ndiaye who had embarked on a tour of Turkey on his bike saying, "Our neighborhood team will represent France in the World Cup,” was actually an excellent summary of the situation. Actually, it is evident that for the vast majority of the French population this situation is not a problem. Even though the Muslim and African players who brought home the championship for France pose no problem for the majority of the French public, the disproportionate contradiction of current Islamophobic politics and rhetoric in France are evident.
The most frequently heard rhetoric is that "France has now stolen the World Cup from the needy people and Muslims in Africa, which it exploited for years.” We are obliged to say that this situation is an opportunity for France to reconsider French identity and its historical debt of gratitude to Africans and Muslims. We hope that this time it seizes this opportunity and its results will be beneficial.
On the other hand, the most serious manifestation was experienced by Germany, which was not discussed much as they did not reach the finals. But in reality it is Germany which faces real troubles regarding this issue. The hosts of the 2014 World Cup were shown as the favorite team of the tournament. The photo of İlkay Gündoğan and Mesut Özil, who bear the burden of the German national team , and Cenk Tosun, who transferred from Beşiktaş to Everton in the middle of the last season, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan before the tournament sparked unrest. Obviously, the event that marked the tournament was to a great extent this photo.
A great wave of relentless criticism was initiated by media outlets to sway public opinion against these players, who spent some time with President Erdoğan. The issue was actually very, very simple. These football players met with leader of their country of their ancestors and took a few simple photographs for the press. But this was not treated with such simplicity by the schizophrenic German public.
Mesut and İlkay hurriedly met with the President of Germany to diffuse the anger and took a few photographs together but the tension was not reduced. This unpleasantness experienced before the tournament was into the competition, and German fans whistled at their own players each time Mesut or İlkay got the ball.
Löw, the coach of the German national team, first tried to defend his players but he was obliged to substitute Mesut and İlkay since the anger was not diffused. However, when the Turkish soccer players were excluded, the German team, which then consisted entirely of Germans, bid farewell to the World Cup. Moreover, after Germany was eliminated, the pressure on Mesut was increased instead of fading away. The pressure was bolstered so much so that his father’s comment saying "it was not a good idea to take a photo with Erdoğan," meant to reduce the security threat and release the tension, was not enough.
Oliver Bierhoff, the German national team manager, stated that a mistake was made by taking Mesut and İlkay to Russia after the photograph they took with Erdoğan. Reinhard Grindel, President of the German Football Federation, began to put pressure Mesut to force him to make a statement. As Özil remained silent, they went even crazier.
What disclosed the thoughts of those who did not focus on football but opted to talk about a few simple photographs was the remark by Martin Hohmann, deputy of the Alternative Party for Germany, made on social media: "A picture with a dead frog, a grey uniform and Ottoman politicians. Must Turks be on our national team? In the next world cup, I do not want a frog on the field, a grey uniform or selfies with Ottoman politicians. I want a real German national team playing football passionately for our country.”
Hohmann’s message also reveals the essence of the matter. Increasing Islamophobia in German society has started to show itself in the form of hostility towards Turks. Any act which is reminiscent of Turkey, or glorifies or honors Turkey is not allowed in any way.
This situation has exceeded xenophobia. The hatred directed toward Mesut and İlkay not because of their football performance but because of their origin, and a simple act related with their origin, is the clearest indication that things are not going well Germany.
