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Turks mourn Germany blaze victims
Around 2,000 mourners held a funeral for nine Turks, killed in a blaze in Germany, as Turkish and German authorities expressed sorrow and called for restraint. Nine coffins draped with red-and-white Turkish flags and scattered with red roses were lined up at a cemetery, also decorated with flags.
- AP
- Published: 23:55 February 11, 2008
- Image Credit: AP
- Relatives of victims killed in a fire mourn during a funeral ceremony in Gaziantep, southern Turkey.
Gaziantep, Turkey: Around 2,000 mourners held a funeral for nine Turks, killed in a blaze in Germany, as Turkish and German authorities expressed sorrow and called for restraint. Nine coffins draped with red-and-white Turkish flags and scattered with red roses were lined up at a cemetery, also decorated with flags.
German authorities were still investigating the blaze, which killed five children and four adults on February 3 in Ludwigshafen. Two Turkish families lived in the building and all of the victims were Turkish citizens. The bodies of the victims were flown to Gaziantep on Sunday.
Racially motivated
German police say there is no evidence to back up rumours that the fire was a racially-motivated attack. German authorities said that neo-Nazi graffiti scrawled near the door of a Turkish cultural centre located in the building was unrelated to the fire.
Still, relatives of some of the victims suspected that hostilities toward minorities might have a role in the fire. "There has been hostilities toward Turks, the German government did not take it seriously," Karanfil Calar, mother of 31-year-old victim Hulya Kaplan, said.
The mayor of Gaziantep, Asim Guzelbey, called for restraint, assuring the mourners that "German authorities were doing their best to shed light on the incident". German Ambassador Eckart Cuntz expressed his condolences in a speech in Turkish during the funeral.
"This pain has united us," Cuntz said. "I know it is very difficult to overcome this grief, but let it be the start of better friendship and understanding between Turks and Germans."
While many of the estimated 2.7 million Turks who live in Germany are fully integrated in society, many others speak German poorly and live in large Turkish-speaking communities.
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