Joseph Goebbels once said, "The best propaganda is that which, as it were, works invisibly, penetrates the whole of life without the public having any knowledge of the propagandistic initiative." For him the recipe was clear, "Propaganda should be popular, not intellectually pleasing. It is not the task of propaganda to discover intellectual truths." He then adds, "Success is the most important thing."

Goebbels was probably the most experienced propagandist on transforming blatant racism into a holy crusade. He was the mind behind Hitler's PR work; he was the man who made Germans think that they were saving the human civilization in 1939. He brainwashed an entire nation and he was able to do that because he knew the winning recipe: To manipulate people, you need to sell a lie as if it is the most explicit truth.

Times have changed, but Goebbels' winning recipe is still alive. But to detect it, one must be experienced. Let us play a quick game to learn how to detect the tactic.

Imagine you are an official in the German Football Federation (DFB) and you are overseeing Germany's Euro 2024 bid. The national team fails miserably in the World Cup, your competitor for 2024 is more than ready and one of the best players in your national team retires because of racism and xenophobia. This player accuses the chairman of your federation of pursuing a racist, xenophobic political agenda and offers proof for it on his Twitter account. You know your chances are lower than your opponent, and this story certainly makes things even worse. What would you do to reverse this situation? I give you a moment to think.

Voila, you claim that the player who was the victim of racism was actually serving your opponent's Euro 2024 agenda, and he accused your federation of racism just to make you lose the race. See the tactic? German officials transformed Mesut Özil's case from clear evidence of institutional racism to PR work in which Özil sacrificed everything to make Turkey win Euro 2024.

Now, I want you to ask this question, does this make sense to you that a national hero, who was once the poster boy of Germany's integration success, accuses German institutions like the DFB, Mercedes Benz and even his former school in Gelsenkirchen of racism and retires from the national team as the most hated man in Germany, just to help Turkey win Euro 2024?

Özil was born and raised in Germany, he only comes to Turkey to visit his relatives in Zonguldak, a Black Sea city. His lifestyle is completely German, as is his native tongue. I know he said he has two hearts, one German and one Turkish, but this does not change the fact that he was born and raised in Germany. Why would he want to do that to his homeland, while he gets nothing but hatred in return?

This story of Özil making Germany lose the Euro 2024 race is just manipulative propaganda by German officials and the DFB. Just like they did after the catastrophic World Cup, they are trying to make Özil the scapegoat once more. UEFA officials and fans all around Europe should be aware of this tactic and should not reward it. There are disguised racist and xenophobic political agendas behind the arguments against Özil's rightful case. In order to keep the race clean and fair, these sorts of arguments should be punished in the evaluation process, as they deliberately misinform officials and the masses.