The ancestral Turkish town of football star, Mesut Ozil have honoured him by erecting a new street sign showing him posing with President Tayyip Erdogan.
This followed Ozil’s decision to quit the German team, saying he faced “racism and disrespect” for his Turkish roots.
According to Reuters, the sign marking “Mesut Ozil Avenue”, named in honour of the midfielder, replaces one picturing him wearing the international strip of Germany, the country of his birth.
The picture of a smiling Ozil and Erdogan side by side, holding up the team shirt of his English club Arsenal, set off a row in Germany when the photo was snapped in May.
Erdogan, who was campaigning for re-election when the photo was taken, has drawn criticism in Germany for a crackdown following a coup attempt in 2016.
Mustafa Semerci, the mayor of the Black Sea town of Devrek — the original home of Ozil’s family — has however explained why he changed the sign.
“This was after we watched with sadness what was done to Ozil,’’ the Turkish news agency DHA quoted Semerci as saying.
Ozil was a key member of Germany’s World Cup-winning team in 2014.
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