The 22-year-old attacking midfielder will miss the remainder of the season after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last week upheld the ban imposed by FIFA over his contract dispute with Turkish club Trabzonspor dating back to 2011.
Calhanoglu, who ended up at Germany's Karlsruhe at the time, was also ordered to pay Trabzonspor 100,0000 euros. He joined Leverkusen in 2014.
"Bayer Leverkusen have absolutely no involvement in this but the club was hit hard on both a sporting and financial level by this sanction," Calhanoglu, a Turkey international, said in a statement.
"That is why it is clear to me that I cannot further damage the club and I will waive my salary for the duration of my ban."
Trabzonspor had lodged a claim with FIFA in April 2013 alleging that Calhanoglu had breached the terms of his contract without just cause when he signed for Karlsruhe in 2011.
Leverkusen said the player was also looking at what options he had for an appeal.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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