- Title: GERMANY: Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan arrives at the site in southern Germany
- Date: 8th February 2008
- Summary: PEOPLE IN CROWD CHANTING IN TURKISH "TURKEY IS PROUD OF YOU!"
- Embargoed: 23rd February 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA55BY41L4OHPOC29WQEHT07J9L
- Story Text: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday (February 7) appealed to the media not to stir hatred after a visit to the site in Germany where nine Turkish people lost their lives in a house fire.
"On your front pages and in your editorials, please don't write anything in large letters that would disturb and damage the peace between our two countries," Erdogan said as he addressed a crowd of Turkish people in the southern German city of Ludwigshafen.
Speaking over a loudspeaker system standing outside the charred house, Erdogan told his fellow citizens that "German police and German firefighters did everything in their power" to save lives.
He thanked the rescue services for their work, yet reminded German authorities that Turkey will continue to closely follow the ongoing investigation into the fire last Sunday, February 3.
The cause of Sunday's blaze in a housing block in Ludwigshafen is unknown but speculation is rife in the local Turkish community and in Turkish media that it was a racially motivated arson attack.
Chants of "Turkey is proud of you!" were heard as Erdogan left the scene following his address.
The incident in Ludwqigshafen has revived memories of a firebombing by Germans in 1993 in Solingen which killed five Turks and drew international condemnation. One person in the crowd listening to Erdogan brandished a placard referring to the Solingen attack.
Turkish newspapers have reported a family who had lost members in the blaze had received threats from neo-Nazis.
Turkey's Aksam newspaper carried a story on Thursday which recalled how German media and officials descended on Antalya during the trial of Marco Weiss, a German teenager charged in Turkey of sexually abusing a 13-year-old British girl.
He was detained in Turkey for about eight months and German Chancellor Angela Merkel got involved in the case. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains identifiable children: users must ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations governing the publishing of this material.