Mesut Ozil: Former Arsenal and Real Madrid midfielder enters Turkish politics

Former Arsenal and Real Madrid footballer Mesut Ozil has transitioned into politics after joining Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party.

The retired German midfielder, 36, was named on the ruling AK Party’s (AKP) Central Decision and Management Board during a party congress on Sunday.

Ozil, who is of Turkish descent, received criticism later in his career due to his relationship with Mr Erdogan.

He retired from the German national team in 2018, five years before his wider retirement from the game, after a photo of him meeting the Turkish president in London caused uproar.

Reinhard Grindel, who was the head of Germany’s soccer federation at the time, accused the players of allowing themselves to be “exploited” by Mr Erdogan for political purposes.

Some German politicians questioned Ozil’s loyalty to Germany, suggesting he should be removed from the national squad ahead of the World Cup in 2018.

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In his post about retiring from international football, Ozil suggested his critics were being racist and that the “picture we took had no political intentions” and “was about me respecting the highest office of my family’s country”.

Ozil got married to Amine Gulse in Istanbul the following summer, with Mr Erdogan present at the wedding.

Mr Erdogan has presided over Turkey for more than two decades – as prime minister since 2003 and president since 2014.

His critics say he has turned Turkey into an autocracy and eroded people’s rights, having introduced a new system in 2018 that abolished the office of the prime minister and concentrated most powers in the hands of the president.

Ozil, who won the World Cup with Germany in 2014, left Arsenal for Turkish side Fenerbahce in 2021 before moving to Istanbul Basaksehir in 2022, where he retired a year later.