When Turkey beat Germany 3-2 in a friendly match last November at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Bavaria-born Kenan Yildiz scored the Turks’ second goal. He, like many German players of Turkish origin, chose to play for Milli Takim.
That night, about two-thirds of the fans in the stadium celebrated with the visitors, in stands covered in a sea of red and white Turkish flags.
Italian Vincenzo Montella, the Turkish national team coach, is asked if it is a good omen to play in Germany during the European Cup, and he says happily, “We will most likely play as if we are at home.”
The coach announced a list of 26 players to participate in the finals. Among these five were born on German soil, the most prominent of whom is the talented young man Kenan Yildiz, the Italian Juventus player, as well as Salih Ozgan, the Champions League runner-up with Borussia Dortmund, and Hakan Calhanoglu, the captain of the national team that won the Italian League title with Inter. Where about three million Turks live, they constitute the largest community of Turks or people of Turkish origin abroad.
