LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — A controversial gesture made by Turkey player Merih Demiral at soccer's European Championship has ignited a diplomatic brouhaha between the country and host nation Germany.
Turkey summoned the German ambassador on Wednesday to protest German interior minister Nancy Faeser's condemnation of Demiral’s goal celebration the night before, when the player displayed a hand sign associated with an ultra-nationalist group.
Demiral scored both goals Tuesday in a 2-1 win over Austria to earn Turkey's place in the quarterfinals.
After scoring the second goal he made a sign with each hand that is used by Turkish nationalists and associated with the Turkish ultra-nationalist organization Ulku Ocaklari, which is more widely known as the Gray Wolves.
Faeser urged UEFA to punish the player for making the gesture.
“The symbols of Turkish right-wing extremists have no place in our stadiums. Using the soccer European Championship as a platform for racism is completely unacceptable,” Faeser said on X.
Federal minister Cem Özdemir, a German politician of Turkish descent, said Demiral's gesture is “extreme right" and "stands for terror, fascism.”
UEFA said it was investigating Demiral's “alleged inappropriate behavior.” The soccer body did not outline when the case might conclude. Turkey’s next game is against the Netherlands in Berlin on Saturday.
The spokesman for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party, Omer Celik, said Faeser’s comments and UEFA’s investigation are “unacceptable.”
“It would be more appropriate for those looking for racism and fascism to focus on the recent election results in different European countries,” Celik wrote on X.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the investigation as a politically motivated reaction “to the use of a historical and cultural symbol” during the goal celebration.
A ministry statement said the gesture is not banned in Germany and noted that the German authority which safeguards the constitution had ruled in September 2023 that not everyone making the Gray Wolf sign could be classified as a far-right extremist.
“We consider that the reactions shown by the German authorities toward Mr. Demiral themselves contain xenophobia,” the ministry said.
After Tuesday's game, Demiral said his gesture was an innocent expression of his national pride and that there was “no hidden message or anything of the sort.”
The player said he had the celebration in mind before scoring.
“It has to do with this Turkish identity, because I’m very proud to be a Turk. And I felt that to the fullest after the second goal. So that’s how I ended up doing that gesture. I’m very happy that I did that,” Demiral said. “I saw people in the stadium who were doing that sign. So that reminded me that I also had that in mind.”
Later, he was asked again about the gesture.
“How can I explain this?” he replied. “Of course we’re all Turkish. We’re all Turks in Turkey. We’re very proud. I’m very proud as a person to be a Turk. So that’s what I did. That was the meaning of the gesture. It’s quite normal.”
Demiral said he hoped he'd get “more opportunities to do the same gesture again.”
Demiral was previously one of 16 Turkey players reprimanded in 2019 for making military-style salutes at games at a time when the country was conducting a military offensive in Syria.
The Gray Wolves group was founded as the youth wing of Turkey's far-right Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, which is currently in an alliance with Erdogan’s ruling party, the Justice and Development Party.
In the decades following its founding in the 1960s, the group was accused of involvement in politically motivated violence, mostly against leftist groups.
MHP leader Devlet Bahceli on Wednesday condemned UEFA’s investigation into Demiral's gesture as “biased and wrong.”
“The Gray Wolf sign made by our son, Merih, after netting the ball is the Turkish nation’s message to the world,” Bahceli wrote on X. The nationalist leader urged calm, saying the Turkish team’s “struggle on the field should not go to waste.”
Germany's federal domestic agency monitors the Gray Wolves group's activities. Authorities estimate it has around 12,100 members in the country.
The group has been banned in France, while Austria has banned the use of the Gray Wolf salute.
AP newsperson Suzan Fraser contributed from Ankara, Turkey, and AP sports writer James Ellingworth contributed from Düsseldorf, Germany.
AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024
Turkey's Merih Demiral celebrates after scoring his side second goal during a round of sixteen match between Austria and Turkey at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Leipzig, Germany, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. UEFA has launched an investigation into Turkey soccer player Merih Demiral's “alleged inappropriate behavior” after he celebrated a goal at Euro 2024 by displaying a hand sign associated with an ultra-nationalist group. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Turkey's Merih Demiral, right, celebrates after scoring his side second goal during a round of sixteen match between Austria and Turkey at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Leipzig, Germany, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising toward more records Friday after a highly anticipated report on the job market bolstered Wall Street's hopes that interest rates may soon get easier.
The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher and on track to set an all-time high for a third straight day following Thursday's pause in trading for the Fourth of July holiday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was edging up by 14 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was adding 0.8% to its own record.
The action was more decisive in the bond market, where Treasury yields sank following the nuanced U.S. jobs report. Employers hired more workers last month than economists expected, but the number was still a slowdown from May’s hiring. Plus, the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked higher, and the U.S. government said hiring in earlier months was lower than it had previously indicated.
Altogether, the data reinforced belief on Wall Street that the U.S. economy’s growth is slowing under the weight of high interest rates. That’s precisely what investors want to see, because a slowdown would keep a lid on inflation and could push the Federal Reserve to begin cutting its main interest rate from the highest level in two decades.
The question is whether the economy can remain in this Goldilocks state of not too hot and not too cold, while the Federal Reserve times its next moves precisely. The hope is that the Fed will lower interest rates early and significantly enough to keep the economic slowdown from sliding into a recession, but not so much that it allows inflation to regain strength and take off again.
The clearest takeaway from the jobs report for financial markets was that it keeps the Fed on track to cut its main interest rate later this year, likely in September and perhaps again in December. The two-year Treasury yield, which closely tracks expectations for Fed action, fell to 4.60% from 4.71% late Wednesday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which is the centerpiece of the bond market, fell to 4.27% from 4.36% late Wednesday and from 4.70% in April. That's a notable move for the bond market and offers support for stock prices.
Friday’s jobs report follows a mass of data showing a slowdown across the U.S. economy. Reports earlier this week said business activity in both the U.S. services and manufacturing sectors contracted last month, turning in weaker readings than economists expected. And U.S. shoppers at the lower end of the income spectrum have been showing how difficult it is to keep up with still-rising prices, as balances owed on credit cards swell.
“What matters for long-term investors is whether fears of a recession become a reality,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “We think it’s unlikely we’ll see a recession this year or next, but that doesn’t mean the markets won’t fear one.”
On Wall Street, gold miner Newmont rose 2.2% for one of the larger gains in the S&P 500. It benefited from a rise for the price of gold, which usually strengthens when interest rates fall. It's the flip side of when rates are rising and bonds are paying higher yields, which can pull investors away from gold, which pays its holders nothing.
Gains for some big, influential stocks also helped support the market, even though the majority of stocks within the S&P 500 fell. Meta Platforms rose 4.9%, and Apple added 1.7%.
Amazon rose 1.2% after the announcement of a deal where the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue will buy Neiman Marcus Group for $2.65 billion. Amazon will hold a minority stake in the deal.
On the losing end of Wall Street were companies tied closely to cryptocurrency activity, as bitcoin briefly tumbled below $54,000 from nearly $63,000 early this week. The cryptocurrency's value is roughly back to where it was in February.
Coinbase Global slipped 0.8%, and Robinhood Markets fell 1.1%.
In stock markets abroad, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5% after U.K. voters ushered in a new regime by throwing out Conservatives in this week’s national election.
The United Kingdom experienced a run of turbulent years during Conservative rule that left many voters pessimistic about their country’s future. The U.K.’s exit from the European Union followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine battered the economy. Rising poverty and cuts to state services have led to gripes about “Broken Britain.”
Germany’s DAX rose 0.1% after the government agreed on a budget for 2025 and a stimulus package for Europe’s largest economy, ending a monthslong squabble that threatened to upend Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left coalition.
The disagreements had fueled speculation that the already unpopular government could collapse and prompt a snap parliamentary election in which Germany could follow other European countries by swinging toward the political right.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 topped the 41,000 level early on Friday to rise above its record closing level set on Thursday, but it ended the day marginally lower.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
FILE - The New York Stock Exchange is seen on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in New York. Shares advanced Friday, July 5, 2024, in Europe after Britain's Labour Party prevailed over the Conservatives in this week's national election. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
The New York Stock Exchange is seen on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in New York. Wall Street is leaning toward minuscule gains before the bell ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
A passerby walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index, right, at a securities firm Thursday, July 4, 2024 in Tokyo. Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark closed Thursday at a fresh record high of 40,913.65, pushing past its most recent record close set in March. (Kyodo News via AP)
FILE - A person walks past at an electronic stock board showing Japan's stock prices at a securities firm in Tokyo, June 27, 2024. Asian shares were mostly lower on Friday, July 5, after solid gains in Europe overnight, while U.S. markets were closed for the July 4th holiday. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)
FILE - A person walks past at an electronic stock board showing financial indexes including Japan's Nikkei 225 index, green, at a securities firm in Tokyo, June 27, 2024. Asian shares were mostly lower on Friday, July 5, after solid gains in Europe overnight, while U.S. markets were closed for the July 4th holiday. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)
