Mesut Ozil breaks silence over meeting with Turkish president Erdogan

The picture, which was taken before this summer's World Cup, saw the Arsenal midfielder pose alongside Erdogan and German teammate Ilkay Gundogan

​Mesut Ozil has broken his silence over his meeting with controversial Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The picture, which was taken before this summer's World Cup, saw the Arsenal midfielder pose alongside Erdogan and German teammate Ilkay Gundogan.

Both players came in for heavy criticism from fans and pundits in their homeland as a result with leading German football figures including Oliver Bierhoff suggesting that both should not have been allowed to represent their country in Russia.

Manchester City midfielder Gundogan distanced himself from the image and now Ozil has moved to clarify his own position.

“In may, I met President Erdogan in London, during a charitable and educational event. We first met in 2010 after he and Angela Merkel watched the Germany vs Turkey match together in Berlin," he said in a lengthy post on his Twitter account.

“Since then, out paths have crossed a lot of times around the globe. I'm aware that the picture of us caused a huge response in the German media, and whilst some people may accuse me of lying or being deceitful, the picture we took had no political intentions.

“As I said, my mother has never let me lose sight of my ancestry, heritage and family traditions.

“For me, having a picture with President Erdogan wasn't about politics or elections, it was about me respecting the highest office of my family's country. My job is a football player and not a politician, and out meeting was not an endorsement of any policies.

“In fact, we spoke about the same topic that we do every time we have met – football – as he too was a player in his youth.

Ozil has come in for heavy criticism since the image was published (REUTERS)

“Although the German media have portrayed something different, the truth is that not meeting with the President would have been disrespecting the roots of my ancestors, who I know would be proud of where I am today.

“For me, it didn't matter who was President, it mattered that it was the President. Having respect for political office is a view I'm sure both the Queen and Prime Minister Theresa May share when they too hosted Erdogan in London.

“Whether it had been the Turkish or German president, my actions would've been no different."