Turkey's Erdogan becomes best man at footballer Ozil's wedding

German footballer Mesut Ozil tied the knot on Friday in Istanbul, with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as best man.

Ozil, who has Turkish roots, got married to his fiancee, former Miss Turkey Amine Gulse, at a luxury hotel on the banks of the Bosphorus. The couple dated since 2017 and got engaged in June 2018.

Earlier, this year in March, Ozil was criticized when he announced that he asked Erdogan to be his best man. Erdogan often attends weddings of celebrities in Turkey.

The 30-year-old sparked a controversy when he posed for photos with Turkey’s president ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He was questioned by some people from Germany about where his loyalties lie. Owing to ‘racism and disrespect’, he had quit international football.

“I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose,” Ozil said, adding that despite his successful history with the team, the way he was treated made him “no longer want to wear the German national team shirt”.

The Arsenal midfielder is a third-generation Turkish-German and was born in Gelsenkirchen.