The former Germany, Real Madrid and the star of Arsenal Mesut Ozil, who retired in 2023, was elected Sunday for the ruling party Justice and Development Party (AKP) of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced the party.
The 2014 World Cup winner born in Germany became a member of the Central Council of the AKP in a Congress in Ankara, where Erdogan was re -elected for the ninth time as head of the Conservative Party who has ruled Türkiye since 2002.
Ozil, who finished his career at the Club in Istanbul, has been a defender of Erdogan for a long time, after having chosen him as his best man in 2019 for his wedding with a former Miss Turkey, Amine Gile.
A photo of Ozil and Erdogan with the former teammate from Germany, Ilkay Guendogan, also of Turkish origin, caused controversy, with Berlin accusing the Turkish head of state of repressive drift, while Ozil was criticized by the German right.
Ozil, previously sustained as a symbol of a multicultural Germany, turned his back on the German national team, accusing the German Football Racism Association.
After months of silence about a controversial photograph with Erdogan in 2018, Ozil exploded.
The former Arsenal midfielder published a four -page decision with the bosses, sponsors and media of the German Football Association (DFB).
Ozil blamed DFB’s management, particularly its President Reinhard Grindel, for not putting it on his critics.
“In the eyes of Grindel and his followers, I am German when we won, but I am an immigrant when we lose,” Ozil had written.
