Arsenal star Mesut Özil is claiming politics chased him away from playing for his country.

Özil announced his retirement from the German national soccer team Sunday in a lengthy post on his Twitter account. His decision is a result of backlash the midfielder received after a photo he took with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appeared to expose underlying tension between Özil, who is of Turkish descent, and German fans and team management.

“Like many people, my ancestry traces back to more than one country,” Özil wrote in his statement. “Whilst I grew up in Germany, my family background has its roots firmly based in Turkey. I have two hearts, one German and one Turkish. During my childhood, my mother taught me to always be respectful and to never forget where I came from, and these are values that I think about to this day.”

In his announcement, Özil attempted to clarify that his photo and relationship with the Turkish president was not a political stance but about “respecting the highest office of my family’s country.” The 29-year-old said the two spoke about what they always do: soccer.

Özil claimed the German media has used his background and photo with Erdoğan as propaganda to further their political agenda, stating that newspaper headlines pinned Germany’s World Cup group stage ouster on him. In addition, the Deutscher Fussball-Bund (DFB) of the German Football Association canceled all promotional activities and campaigns that were scheduled for Özil before the controversial photo surfaced, the midfielder said.

However, American brands such as Adidas, Beats and BigShoe, he said, “have been extremely loyal and amazing to work with in this time.

“They didn’t criticize my performances, they didn’t criticize the team’s performances, they just criticized my Turkish ancestry and respect for my upbringing,” Özil wrote. “This crosses a personal line that should never be crossed, as newspapers try to turn the nation of Germany against me.”

Ozil also called out DFB President Reinhard Grindel in his statement, claiming Grindel forced Özil to cut his holiday short to go to Berlin and address the backlash from the Erdogan photo in a joint statement before belittling Özil’s defense. Özil revealed that Grindel’s response prompted him to avoid the DFB media day during World Cup preparations. Ozil accused the DFB of “racism and disrespect.”

Ulrich “Uli” Hoeness, president of Bayern Munich, publicly criticized Özil over his retirement news. Hoeness told Sport Bild, a weekly German sports magazine, that Özil has been “s–t for years” and is hiding his mediocre World Cup performance behind this scandal.

“Whenever we played against Arsenal, we played on him because we knew he was the weak point,” Hoeness said.

Özil, who finishes his international career with 23 goals in 92 games, played a prominent role in Germany’s run to the 2014 World Cup title, which now may be his peak achievement for the club.

“I used to wear the German shirt with such pride and excitement, but now I don’t,” Özil said. “This decision has been extremely difficult to make because I have always given everything for my teammates, the coaching staff and the good people of Germany.

“But when high-ranking DFB officials treat me as they did, disrespect my Turkish roots and selfishly turn me into political propaganda, then enough is enough.”