Ozil Announces He Will No Longer Play For Germany

Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil says he no longer wants to play international football for Germany.

In a lengthy statement, the 29-year-old said treatment he had received from the German Football Association (DFB) had made him “no longer want to wear the German national team shirt”.

He also claimed he was being blamed for Germany’s disappointing World Cup.

In May, Ozil was criticised after being photographed with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a London event.

Ozil says he, and Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan, who also attended the event, talked about football with the president.

Afterwards, photographs were released by Turkey’s governing AK Party in the build-up to elections in the country, which Erdogan won outright.

Many German politicians questioned Ozil and Gundogan’s loyalty to German democratic values.

Germany has previously criticised the Turkish leader’s crackdown on political dissent following a failed coup.

Ozil said he would have been “disrespecting his ancestors’ roots” had he not posed for photographs with the Turkish president.

He added that he and his family had received hate mail, threatening phone calls and comments on social media.

This story was originally written by BBC