President Tayyip Erdogan (70) said he decided to attend Turkey's Euro 2024 quarter-final in Berlin after a row over a Turkish football player's "wolf salute" goal celebration earlier this week, CNNTurk and other Turkish media reported on Friday.
"Does anybody ask why the German national jersey has an eagle, or the French jersey a rooster? Merih (Demiral) showed his excitement with that gesture," Erdogan was quoted as telling reporters Thursday on a flight from Kazakhstan.
UEFA gave Demiral a two-match ban for the politically-charged "wolf" gesture made during his side's last-16 win against Austria on Tuesday. Turkey meet the Netherlands in the Saturday quarter-final at Berlin's Olympiastadion.
Meanwhile, Turkey's Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said the decision to ban Demiral was unacceptable and it should be overturned.
"The beauty and excitement of football should not be overshadowed with political decisions," Yilmaz said in a post on social media platform X.
