BERLIN (AP) — UEFA suspended Turkey player Merih Demiral for two matches on Friday for making a controversial gesture at the European Championship.

It rules the defender out of Turkey's quarterfinal against the Netherlands on Saturday and the semifinal, should Turkey progress.

The governing body said it banned Demiral “for failing to comply with the general principles of conduct, for violating the basic rules of decent conduct, for using sports events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the sport of football into disrepute.”

Demiral scored both goals Tuesday in a 2-1 win over Austria to earn Turkey’s place in the quarterfinals and celebrated with a hand sign associated with an ultra-nationalist group.

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.

Demiral defended the gesture afterward, saying it was an innocent expression of national pride and that he was hoping he'd have “more opportunities to do the same gesture again.”

But UEFA on Wednesday launched an investigation. The Turkish camp had until Friday to state its case. There was no immediate reaction from the Turkish soccer association.

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 Turkish President Recep Tayyip 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.

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AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024