Mesut Ozil attack over Uighurs sparks China retaliation

The Premier League is on a collision course with China after the Arsenal ace supported the country’s Muslim minorities.

Mesut Ozil has plunged the Premier League and Arsenal into a possible confrontation with China after his social media comments supporting the country’s oppressed Muslim minorities.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV dropped live coverage of the Arsenal v Manchester City match on Sunday (Monday AEDT) after the German midfielder condemned the treatment of Uighur Muslims. That move will be a serious cause of concern for Arsenal and the Premier League, with China’s vast population seen as the prime market for attracting new fans.

China is the league’s most lucrative overseas territory – its $1 billion (about £525 million) TV deal alone is worth $17m (£8.75m) per year to each Premier League club until 2022. Clubs often tour China in pre-season to attract new fans and sponsors.

Ozil, who is of Turkish heritage, spoke out on social media in response to the plight of the Uighur Muslims in China. The country has faced growing condemnation for setting up camps in the Xinjiang region, with more than one million Uighurs and other minorities detained for “re-education”.

#HayırlıCumalarDoğuTürkistan 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/dJgeK4KSIk

— Mesut Özil (@MesutOzil1088) December 13, 2019

The 31-year-old wrote on Twitter and Instagram in Turkish: “Korans are being burnt … Mosques are being shut down … Muslim schools are being banned … Religious scholars are being killed one by one … Brothers are forcefully being sent to camps.” He also criticised Muslim countries for not speaking up about the issue.

China’s Global Times newspaper said CCTV took the decision to drop the Arsenal match after Ozil’s comments on Saturday “disappointed fans and football governing authorities”. The Chinese FA called Ozil’s comments “unacceptable” and claimed the player had “hurt the feelings” of Chinese fans.

The Premier League would not comment, while Arsenal said the club has “always adhered to the principle of not involving itself in politics”. Arsenal did not comment after Hector Bellerin tweeted, calling on people not to vote for Boris Johnson and using the hashtag #F***Boris.

Young people across the world have a chance to change what the future can be. Today's the chance for all the British people to influence what your future & those living here holds. #FuckBoris #GoVote pic.twitter.com/epHbI3sdNw

— Héctor Bellerín (@HectorBellerin) December 12, 2019

Chinese fans reacted emotionally to Ozil’s controversial comments with disappointment and anger, forcing his Chinese social media account to be closed to new comments.

Thousands of Mr Ozil’s fans and audience of the Premier League in China flooded to the footballer and the club’s official accounts on Weibo, a Facebook and Twitter equivalent in China, condemning him supporting “East Turkestan”, an independent movement seeking the separation of Xin Jiang from China, after Mr Ozil used a hashtag and the movement’s flag in his social media post.

“I think it’s imperative to farewell you after been loving you for ten years,” one of Ozil’s over 4 million followers on weibo, user“weiweikyy”posted under his last post before the commentary functionality was closed due to overwhelming messages.

“When you were with Royal Madrid, as long as you were in the starting line-up, I always watched you even the matches were live at 3, 4 am.”

“It’s heartbreaking,” another user posted. “I stood with you when the world was against you, but how could you say that?”

A fan named Echo Chen said she “cried terribly “and posted a torn-in-half photo of her idol and hero for years.

A Chinese fans forum dedicated to Ozil said in a statement that as Chinese citizens, they could not accept his comments. “Any personal interest is not worth mentioned in front of national interests, “it added the forum and all other relevant groups would be closed, “let us draw a full stop to our youth.”

Despite coverage of the match being pulled and backlash against Ozil growing, some commentators expect that the case would go low-key compared with a strong official response from China against the NBA.

As many famous Chinese football commentators remained quiet, sport commentator Bo Yazhou who had worked closely with the club indicated in a post that it seemed “top officials” in China want to play down the matter rather than escalating it.

Arsenal have five million followers on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, on which they issued the statement. Only three months ago, Chinese television made it clear it would take action in response to criticism from those involved in sports that it screens.

After the Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters in October, CCTV cancelled its broadcasts of two NBA pre-season games in China.

Ozil started in Arsenal’s 3-0 home defeat by Manchester City.

The Times