Türkiye: Mesut Özil criticizes demonstrators about boycott calls

In the middle of the heated political mood in Turkey, former German international Mesut Özil has positioned himself against a boycott call by government critics. “We do not harm our local and national brands under the guise of a boycott. Let’s protect our social cohesion!” He wrote on the platform X.

The government critics’ boycott call is generally directed against government companies and brands and has caused sharp criticism of the government. For today, a general consumer boycott was called as a sign of the protest. The Istanbul public prosecutor has initiated an investigation against “split views and those who spread it”. They were shared hundreds of thousands of times on social networks.

Turkey has overthrown the arrest and subsequent arrest of the Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, which has now been abandoned. Hundreds of thousands then took to the streets in government -critical protests. The party has recalled regular protests from next week.

A politician of the largest opposition party Chp asked Özil with a view to his criticism of the boycott call in a post, whose national jersey he had again worn. Özil replied that his commitment to the German national team never questioned his “loyalty to my country and my nation”. Özil has long been the sympathizer of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish head of state was Özil’s best man. Since this year the 36-year-old has also been a member of a central management committee of Erdogan’s AKP party.

The state broadcaster TRT meanwhile dismissed an actress from the occupation of a well -known series after shared a boycott call on social media, the newspaper Cumhuriyet reported. The broadcaster justified a dismissal with contributions that were not compatible with the principles of the station, without the actress directly.

In the past few days, thousands of users on the Internet have asked singers Robbie Williams and the band Muse to cancel their concerts in Turkey because the organizer had spoken out against boycott calls. The organizer then withdrew from the organization of all projects, as the head of the company announced on X. On Wednesday, Muse announced on X to postpone the upcoming concert in Istanbul to 2026.