Deniz Naki

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]

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.

In January 2018, shots were fired at his car on Bundesautobahn 4 near his hometown, Düren.[10] 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.[11]

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.

— [12]

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 German national team, and had also defended his photos with Erdoğan as being unpolitical.[13]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Deniz Naki.

• Deniz Naki – UEFA competition record
• Deniz Naki at fussballdaten.de (in German)
• Deniz Naki at Soccerway