Arsenal midfielder Mesut Özil has decided to end his international football career for Germany.
The 29-year-old said in a lengthy statement, that the treatment he had received from the German Football Association (DFB) had made him “no longer want to wear the German national team shirt”.
Özil also claimed he was being vilified as being responsible for Germany’s disappointing outing at the just concluded Russia 2018 World Cup.
The player was also criticised in May after he was photographed with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a London event. Özil attended the event with fellow German international and Manchester City player Ilkay Gundogan. Both Özil and Gundogan are of Turkish descent.
Photographs from the event were released by Turkey’s governing AK Party in the build-up to elections in the country, which Erdogan won outright. Özil says he, Gundogan and the president talked about football during the event.
A number of German politicians had questioned Ozil and Gundogan’s loyalty to German democratic values especially as Germany has previously criticised the Turkish leader’s crackdown on political oppositions following a failed coup.
Özil said he would have been “disrespecting his ancestors’ roots” had he not posed for photographs with the Turkish president also claiming that he and his family had received hate mails, threatening phone calls and comments on social media.
Özil made his debut for the German national team in 2006 and during his time in the team played 92 matches, scoring 23 goals. He played in three world cup tournament and also two UEFA European Championships.
