{"id":389766,"date":"2018-01-08T15:22:06","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T15:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=389766"},"modified":"2018-01-08T15:23:33","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T15:23:33","slug":"shots-fired-footballer-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/01\/shots-fired-footballer-germany\/","title":{"rendered":"Shots fired at footballer in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"
A German-Kurdish footballer and well-known critic of the Turkish government has survived a suspected murder attempt while driving in western Germany.<\/p>\n
At least two bullets fired from a passing car hit Deniz Naki’s car on a motorway near D\u00fcren on Sunday night, German media say. He was not injured.<\/p>\n
“I immediately ducked and then rolled right to the hard shoulder,” he told Die Welt newspaper.<\/p>\n
Naki plays for Amed SK in Turkey and previously played for German clubs.<\/p>\n
Last April a Turkish judge gave Naki a suspended jail sentence of 18 months for “spreading terrorist propaganda for the PKK”, the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party.<\/p>\n
In 2016 the Turkish Football Federation gave him a 12-match ban for “ideological propaganda” linked to the Kurdish conflict.<\/p>\n
But there is no evidence that the shooting was directly linked to the Turkish state, and Turkey has not commented on it.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Die Welt, Naki said two shots had been fired from a large black car.\u00a0“One bullet struck a window, in the middle of my car, the other one hit near a tyre.” Die Welt shows photos of the two bullet holes.<\/p>\n
Police are investigating and treating the case as a murder attempt.<\/p>\n
Naki grew up in D\u00fcren and played for the German clubs FC St. Pauli and SC Paderborn.<\/p>\n
He said he believed it to be a politically motivated attack, possibly by the Turkish MIT secret service.<\/p>\n
“I assume it was a MIT agent or somebody else who doesn’t like my politics,” he said.<\/p>\n
He had not received specific threats recently, he said, “but I’m attacked on social media constantly”.<\/p>\n