Germany and Turkey to quell fire anger

Germany and Turkey to quell fire anger

By Vincent Boland in Ankara and Bertrand Benoit in Berlin

Published: February 8 2008 16:33 | Last updated: February 8 2008 16:33

The leaders of Germany and Turkey on Friday sought to calm an unseemly shouting match between the two countries over a fire in the German city of Ludwigs-hafen that has played on old Turkish concerns about the status of its ethnic minority in Germany.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, is on an official visit to Germany that has been dominated by the aftermath of last weekend’s fire, in which nine Turks died.

The Turkish community in Ludwigshafen, backed by the media in Turkey, claims the incident was an arson attack and was carried out by neo-Nazis. Germany is home to 2.3m ethnic Turks.

Images of a man throwing a baby from the third floor of the burning building were broadcast around the world this week; the child and her parents survived. And the suggestion that it was a racist attack has dredged up memories in Turkey of previous such incidents in Germany. It has also prompted back-and-forth comments among Turkish and German media and public officials that reveal a striking level of mistrust between two countries with many historical ties.

Initial reporting of the fire in the Turkish media – which has given it unusually extensive coverage – has drawn vigorous criticism from German politicians. A fireman in Ludwigshafen was beaten up by a Turkish man after it was wrongly reported that the firefighters had taken 20 minutes to arrive at the scene.

Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik, the Turkish ambassador in Berlin, sparred with Wolfgang Schäuble, the German interior minister, immediately after the incident, accusing him of ruling out a racist arson attack too early.

Mr Erdogan criticised the media on Friday for jumping to conclusions about the fire before its cause had been officially established. He thanked Angela Merkel, chancellor, for her “commitment and attention” to the issue. She said the fire was “a horrible incident” that would be fully investigated.

Cem Özdemir, a German member of the European parliament of Turkish descent, said reporting of the fire had been “the opposite of helpful”. But he rejected accusations from other German politicians that Mr Erdogan was seeking to build political capital out of the tragedy.

“Of course Erdogan must get involved in such a situation if he is in Germany,” Mr Ozdemir said. “We are talking of a disaster that affected Turkish citizens. Any head of government would act the same way in such a situation.”

Mr Erdogan is to address 20,000 people at the Cologne Arena concert hall on Sunday.

One of his advisers said that the entertainment that was to accompany the address had been cancelled as a mark of respect to the fire victims.