We know they can salute, but can they fight? Players from Turkish national football team sent to front line

Paris, Ras al-Ayn (dpo) - Today, several footballers on the Turkish national team were enlisted into the Turkish army with immediate effect and sent to northern Syria. Prior to these events, they had demonstrated their enthusiasm for the war by ardently saluting after goals.

‘They showed us that they would rather fight for the motherland than stupidly run around after balls for a couple of million Euro and live a life of luxury,’ explained spokesperson for the Turkish army, Bülent Durmaz. ‘That is very honourable and we, of course, want to send them straight to the action.’
These men are, after all, the ideal age to fight and in peak physical condition.
Merih Demiral and the other players are believed to have arrived in a contested district of Ras al-Ayn already. There, they are working hard and saluting patriotically. They are already said to have taken shots at Kurds, although thankfully those Kurds were standing in a goal and a football was involved.
Since it is unlikely that these footballers will return from the front alive and well, their places on the national team are to be taken by players who are less suited to military life and more to life as a professional athlete.
ssi, dan; picture: dpa/Shutterstock
Read the German version HERE.