President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday slammed the UEFA for discriminating against Turkish football players who performed the military salute on the football field.

Axar.az reports UEFA, European football’s governing body, launched an investigation in October against Turkey for a military salute performed by players of its national team.

Turkish National Football Team players did military salutes while celebrating a goal they scored during the UEFA EURO 2020 Qualifiers against Albania in Istanbul, as well as during their match against France in Saint-Denis, in reference to Turkey's anti-terror operation in Syria launched on Oct. 9.

UEFA initiated "disciplinary investigations" for the matches, appointing an inspector with regard to "potential provocative political behavior," UEFA said in a statement.