Deniz Naki

Deniz Naki (born 9 July 1989) is a German professional footballer of Kurdish origin who played as an attacking midfielder.[1]

Deniz Naki
Naki in 2012
Personal information
Full name Deniz Naki
Date of birth (1989-07-09) 9 July 1989
Place of birth Düren, West Germany
Height 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Youth career
2001–2003 FC Düren 77
2003–2005 FC Düren-Niederau
2005–2007 Bayer Leverkusen
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2009 Bayer Leverkusen II 36 (7)
2009 → Rot Weiss Ahlen (loan) 11 (4)
2009–2012 FC St. Pauli 71 (12)
2011 FC St. Pauli II 1 (1)
2012–2013 SC Paderborn 23 (2)
2013–2014 Gençlerbirliği 21 (0)
2015–2018 Amed S.K. 58 (28)
2023 SV. Kurdistan 1 (1)
Total 231 (54)
International career
2007–2008 Germany U19 15 (9)
2008–2009 Germany U20 6 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Naki began his football career at Bayer 04 Leverkusen, but could never make it past its reserves.

On 2 February 2009, he was loaned to Rot Weiss Ahlen, playing eleven games and scoring four goals in his short spell. On 8 February, he made his professional debut in the second division, coming on as a 79th-minute substitute for Marco Reus in a match against FC Augsburg.[2]

On 25 June 2009, Naki left Bayer Leverkusen and signed a three-year contract with FC St. Pauli at the Millerntor-Stadion. He caused controversy on 2 November when, after scoring his team's second goal away at rivals FC Hansa Rostock (2–0 win), he celebrated with a 'cut-throat' gesture towards the opposing fans.[3] He helped with seven league goals as St. Pauli returned to the top level.

Following an unsuccessful trial at Nottingham Forest, Naki completed a move to SC Paderborn 07, signing a two-year contract with the 2. Bundesliga side in the summer of 2012.

On 5 November 2014, Naki decided to leave Gençlerbirliği after an alleged racist attack.[4][5] Naki said he was attacked on the street in the Turkish capital by three men shouting racist abuse and challenging him over his support for the Syrian-Kurdish town of Kobane, which is battling a siege by Islamic State (ISIS).[6][4][1][7]

In February 2016, Naki, playing for Amed SK, was suspended for 12 games and received a large fine after allegedly expressing support for the PKK, in the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. He had written on his personal Facebook page that he dedicated the victory, a win over Bursaspor in the Turkish Cup, to those killed and wounded "under the oppression that has gone on for 50 days in our land," referring to the imposed curfews in numerous Turkish towns with large groups of Kurdish ethnicity.[8]

In October 2016, Naki was charged with ‘promoting terrorist propaganda’ by a Turkish court on the basis of social media posts. According to writer Patrick Keddie, "In November 2016, a court acquitted Naki of all charges, but the prosecution appealed and in April 2017 he was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence – putting him on probation for five years."[9]

In June 2021, he was tried at the Aachen Regional Court for founding an organized crime syndicate, supporting a terrorist organization, drug dealing, blackmail and arson. He has been detained in Germany since July 2020. The request to be tried pending trial is rejected on the grounds that "there is a risk of escaping and obscuring evidence".[10][11][12]

He has been detained in Germany for 2 years Naki, He was released in 2023 and returned to the field again.

International career

As a member of the Germany U-19 team, Naki represented the nation at the 2008 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, played in the Czech Republic.

Personal incidents

In January 2018, shots were fired at his car on Bundesautobahn 4 near his hometown, Düren.[13] In March 2018, Deniz Naki started a hunger strike in front of the UN building in Geneva, in protest against Operation Olive Branch by Turkish Armed Forces.[14]

On 26 July 2018, Naki published a letter in which he called Mesut Özil to take actions against racism in Turkey:

In your statement, you are justified in responding the racism you have encountered and your reasons for leaving the national team, But why you are not showing this response when there are more and more racist and fascist attacks in Turkey on me, and on other Kurdish-background or minority footballers? You are saying that the statements of the DFB are wrong. In Turkey, the career of a football player was ended. A peace-supporting human was branded a terrorist. What is your reaction to this?

People died. To prevent people from dying, I have called several times for peace, They were Kurdish children, mother, and youth that died, Kurdish cities that were destroyed. I didn't want people to die, I want them to live. Those who will welcome you with open arms in your next trip to Turkey, are the same persons, who carried out racists attacks against me. There should be no distinction between fascists, they are the same, in every country.

For these reasons, I am calling on you, to not only fight against fascism and racism in Germany, but racism of any kind in the world. I call on you to observe racism against Kurds in Turkey, and to also fight this.

— [15]

Özil had previously criticized the German Football Association for the lack of support after racist hostilities against him related to his photos with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in which he retired from playing for the Germany national team, and had also defended his photos with Erdoğan as being unpolitical.[16]

Career statistics
As of 1 July 2018
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Bayer Leverkusen II 2008–09[17] Oberliga Nordrhein 25510–00265
2009–10[17] Regionalliga West 11200–00112
Total 367100000377
Rot Weiss Ahlen (loan) 2008–09[17] 2. Bundesliga 11400–00114
FC St. Pauli 2009–10[17] 2. Bundesliga 30722–00329
2010–11[17] Bundesliga 20110–00211
2011–12[17] 2. Bundesliga 21400–00214
Total 71123200007414
FC St. Pauli II 2011–12[17] Regionalliga Nord 1100–0011
SC Paderborn 2012–13[17] 2. Bundesliga 23200–00232
Gençlerbirliği 2013–14[18] Süper Lig 160310000191
2014–15[18] Süper Lig 5010000060
Total 210410000251
Amed S.K. 2015–16[18] TFF First League 18493–00277
2016–17[18] TFF First League 281642–003218
2017–18[18] TFF First League 12821–00149
Total 582815600007334
Career total 23154239000025463

References
  1. Girit, Selin (6 November 2014). "Footballer flees Turkey after attack". BBC News Inside Europe blog. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  2. "Tolles Solo von Großkreutz" [Nice solo by Großkreutz] (in German). kicker. 8 February 2009. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2009.
  3. "Cut-Throat: Deniz Naki (St. Pauli) provokes Rostock fans with an unsavoury gesture". 101 Great Goals. 3 November 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  4. "Striker Deniz Naki leaves club in Turkey after alleged racist attack". The Guardian. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  5. "FC St. Pauli: Deniz Naki löst Vertrag in Ankara auf". 5 November 2014.
  6. "Kurdish footballer quits club and leaves Turkey after alleged racist attack". Rudaw. 6 November 2014.
  7. "Alevi German-Turkish footballer decides to leave Turkey after attack". Hürriyet Daily News.
  8. Kurdistan24. "Turkey: Kurdish footballer banned for 12 matches".
  9. Keddie, Patrick, author. (2018). The passion : football and the story of modern Turkey. ISBN 978-1-350-98907-8. OCLC 1166405791. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. "Almanya'daki Deniz Naki davası 4 Haziran'da başlıyor – DW – 21.05.2021". Deutsche Welle.
  11. "Deniz Naki Almanya'yı böldü".
  12. "Aachen, Germany. 04th June, 2021. The former Bundesliga professional Deniz Naki (M) is behind the dock in the Regional Court. A trial against Naki for forming a criminal organization began on Friday at the Aachen Regional Court. Together with the 31-year-old German, three other men of Turkish nationality are accused. Among other things, they are accused of drug trafficking, extortion and dangerous bodily harm. Credit: Marius Becker/Dpa/Alamy Live News Stock Photo - Alamy".
  13. "Deniz Naki: Shots fired at Kurdish footballer's car in Germany". BBC News. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  14. "Deniz Naki, BM binası önünde Afrin için açlık grevine başlayacak". Demokrat Haber (in Turkish). Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  15. "German-Kurdish footballer criticizes Özil for hypocrisy on racism". Kurdistan 24. 26 July 2018.
  16. "Deniz Naki fordert Özil auf, gegen Rassismus in der Türkei zu kämpfen". Welt (in German). 27 July 2018.
  17. "Deniz Naki » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  18. Deniz Naki at Soccerway
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