DFB: Mesut Ozil, Ilkay Gundogan 'Exploited' by Meeting with Turkey's President

Germany internationals Mesut Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan have been criticised by the German Football Association (DFB) for meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London on Sunday.

The Premier League duo both have Turkish heritage and posed for photos with Erdogan—who is up for re-election on June 24—at London's Four Seasons hotel, a move DFB President Reinhard Grindel condemned as exploitative, per DFB.de:

"The DFB of course respects the special situation for our players with migrant backgrounds, but football and the DFB stands for values that Mr. Erdogan does not sufficiently respect. Therefore, it is not a good thing that our internationals have let themselves be exploited for his election campaign stunt. It certainly hasn’t helped the DFB’s integration efforts."

Germany general manager Oliver Bierhoff said Arsenal's Ozil and Manchester City's Gundogan would both be spoken to about the meeting: "I still have absolutely no doubts about Mesut and Ilkay’s commitment to playing for the Germany national team and how much they identify with our values. They were unaware of the symbolism of these pictures, but we cannot endorse it, and we will discuss the matter with the players."

Everton's Cenk Tosun, a Turkey international, was also at the meeting with Erdogan, where the president was presented with the trio's club shirts, per Turkey's Justice and Development Party (via Goal's Chris Wheatley):

Erdogan is on a three-day state visit in the United Kingdom, which has drawn criticism from human rights campaigners, per the Guardian's Patrick Wintour.