A short clip of Arda Güler greeting Turkey’s national team coaching staff has ended up teaching plenty of people outside Turkey something new about the country’s culture. Güler, fresh off featuring in the Atlético Madrid vs. Real Madrid match, joined the national team’s camp in Riva on September 21, 2026.
Footage shared by Turkish outlet Fanatik shows him working his way around the group of staff members one by one, gently touching the side of his head against each person’s, first on one side, then the other, before moving on to the next.
The clip quickly spread beyond Turkish football circles, with one widely shared post capturing the reaction perfectly: “Look at how Arda Güler greeted the whole staff, touching the side of his head against theirs and then moving to the other side. This boy absolutely has no ego man, such a beautiful gesture. My Turkish people, help me understand the meaning of this beautiful gesture.”
🇹🇷 Dün Atlético Madrid-Real Madrid maçında olan Arda Güler, Riva'daki milli takım kampına katıldı.
— Fanatik (@fanatikcomtr) September 21, 2026
📸 @EmreGunayi_ pic.twitter.com/0Rdrb83cs5
As it turns out, the gesture is a real and fairly common one in Turkish culture, not something unique to Güler or invented for the cameras. Known as touching temples, or gently pressing the sides of the head together, it’s a greeting used mostly between men across Turkey, often as a warmer alternative or addition to a standard handshake.
It tends to show up most in informal, closer social settings, among friends, neighbors, and close-knit communities, rather than in strictly formal or business situations. Some accounts trace its roots back centuries, suggesting a possible origin in Central Asia dating to the Mongol era, though that specific historical link is passed down more as folk history than something formally documented.
What makes the gesture particularly fitting for the reaction it got is what it actually represents. Unlike Turkey’s more widely known hand-kissing tradition, where a younger person kisses an elder’s hand and touches it to their own forehead as a sign of respect and deference, the head-touch greeting works the other way entirely.
It’s used between equals, friends, teammates, peers, rather than as a show of hierarchy or seniority.
Seeing a Real Madrid first-team player, greeted by fans across the world, use that same peer-to-peer gesture with backroom staff rather than a more distant nod or handshake is exactly why it read as such a grounded, unassuming moment to those watching, even before anyone explained what it actually meant.
The match Güler had just come from was a rough one for Real Madrid. Atlético Madrid beat their city rivals 2-1 at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano in the 244th Madrid derby, with Alejandro Grimaldo converting a penalty and Jonathan David doubling the lead after Dean Huijsen was sent off for a professional foul just before the hour mark, reducing Real Madrid to ten men.
Antonio Rüdiger pulled one back late on, but it wasn’t enough, handing Jose Mourinho’s side their second defeat of the season and allowing Atlético to leapfrog them in the table. Güler himself had one of Real Madrid’s better moments of the match, forcing a save from Jan Oblak with a long-range effort in the 40th minute, the first shot on target of the entire game.
Despite the disappointing result, he made his way straight to national team duty afterward, greeting Turkey’s coaching staff in Riva with the same warmth that ended up going viral in its own right.
