The “silent fox” or “gray wolf?” They are pretty much the same for the German city of Bremen. The city became the first in Germany where a large Turkish community lives to issue a ban on the former sign traditionally used to restore order in noisy classrooms by teachers. The ban comes weeks after UEFA slapped a ban on Turkish national football team player Merih Demiral for making what was called a “political” wolf sign after scoring against Austria in a Euro 2024 game in Germany.
Germany has no ban in place for wolf signs, while Demiral’s gesture was in response to a ban in Austria.
The sign is a cultural symbol for Turks but critics claim it is a sign of the Turkish far-right as the Idealist Hearths of Türkiye (a nationalist organization whose followers are known as the “gray wolves”) widely use it. Türkiye has officially denounced criticism of Demiral and the subsequent ban and summoned the German ambassador in the wake of the scandal. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has slammed the ban he branded as politically motivated. "If the issue is to punish the wolf sign, Germans have the eagle, do you punish the eagle? No,” he told reporters recently.
To add further complexity (and another animal) to the matter, authorities in Bremen say the “fox” sign is “in danger of being mistaken” for the wolf sign, which was defined as a symbol of racism by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser after Demiral did it.
Patricia Brandt, a spokesperson for Bremen’s education authority, was quoted by Turkish media saying that the “political meaning of the wolf signal does not comply with the values of Bremen.” But, Thore Schaeck, state chairperson of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in Bremen, was among the critics of the ban. Schaeck was quoted by German media saying that the ban would not solve the problem of extremism and Germany should fight people misusing symbols instead of banning gestures and symbols well established in Germany.
Turks make up the largest ethnic minority in Germany at more than 3 million people and they vehemently opposed criticism of the wolf sign by Demiral in their adopted home. Turkish fans have staged protests while making the same sign after the ban on Demiral.
While Germany tolerates supporters of the terrorist group PKK, which killed thousands in Türkiye and the victory sign they commonly use is not banned, Turks complain of double standards when it comes to symbols deemed "nationalist." In the wake of controversy stirred up over Demiral’s gesture, Turks were under the spotlight in Germany. German media outlets reported that a local intelligence agency identified around 400 people in the state of Schleswig-Holstein associated with what it called “Turkish right-wing extremism” and a branch of Idealist Hearths in the state was being monitored by intelligence.
The Turkish community already faces both xenophobic and Islamophobic attacks in Germany amid a surge in far-right movements and growing anti-Muslim sentiment, especially after the new round of the Palestine-Israel conflict.
The wolf sign is also associated with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an ally of Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) which irks Germany for drawing widespread support from the Turkish diaspora in the EU country. Both left-wing and right-wing parties in Germany have been critical of what they viewed as Erdoğan’s clout among the Turkish diaspora as the latter won about 67% of the votes from the Turkish diaspora in Germany in the 2023 elections.
