|
Germany has come under pressure from Turkey to investigate a building fire which killed 9 Turkish immigrants
Turkish officials will come to Germany to help with the investigation on the cause of the fire in an apartment building in the western German city of Ludwigshafen, which killed nine Turkish people Sunday, German police said. According to the TV News, there are five children among the victims, with ages between 1 and 16. According to the German investigators, the majority of them died from smoke inhalation. Dramatic scenes took place when parents desperately tried to save their children’s lives by throwing them from the third floor.
The building was dwelled by more then 50 Turks. It is not clear how many of them were in the building when the fire broke out. Turkey is worried that the fire might have been set deliberately. Turkish President Abdullah Gul has asked for a "meticulous investigation" into the cause of the fire. “We are greatly concerned over the possibility of premeditation in the fire in which all the victims were Turks,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech to Turkish lawmakers, according to the news agency AFP.
 He also fears that the attack might have had racial reasons. “After the racist acts of violence in the past the question arises: was this fire an accident or not?” Erdogan said. The police said Wednesday that the building was the target of an attack with Molotov cocktails in August 2006. Prime Minister Erdogan is due to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel on February 8, as part of a pre-arranged plan. Almost 2.5 million people of Turkish origin are living in Germany at the moment.Arson is also taken into account, according to the German investigators. According to the Associated Press, two seven-year-old girls told investigators that they saw a German-speaking man setting fire to pieces of paper with his lighter. It is also suspected that the fire could have been set by members of Neo-Nazi gangs. The Turkish government offered to send fire experts in Germany to take part in the investigation. According to the New York Times, the German Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, agreed to allow Turkish experts to help German officers with the investigation. 07/02/08
| |
