Alleged racism against Turkish-German footballer sparks rage across Turkey

ANKARA - The treatment of Mesut Ozil, a Turkish-German football star playing for the German national team, is "racist" and "unacceptable," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday following Ozil's exit from the Germany squad.

"Such a racist treatment toward a young man, who has given his all to the German national team, for his religious beliefs is unacceptable," Erdogan told reporters at Turkish parliament.

Erdogan said he had a phone conversation with the football star on Monday and described his approach as "beyond any form of admiration."

Ozil's bombshell announcement sparked a debate across Turkey, with Turkish politicians joining the chorus of accusations against Germany's "racism."

"I congratulate Mesut Ozil, who by leaving the national team has scored the most beautiful goal against the virus of fascism," Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Ozil, a third-generation German, has been facing criticism in Germany since May, over a controversial photograph with Erdogan ahead of the World Cup.

He and Ilkay Gundogan, a teammate also of Turkish descent who posed with Erdogan as well, were jeered by German fans in warm-up games before the World Cup in Russia.

In a long statement posted on his social media on Sunday, the footballer announced "with a heavy heart and after much consideration" that he will no longer play for Germany at the international level, because "this feeling of racism and disrespect."

"Racism should never, ever be accepted," he added.

"In the eyes of Grindel (president of German Football Federation) and his supporters, I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose," Ozil wrote in the statement.