Hundreds of Turks and Germans gathered yesterday (10 February) at the ruins of a building in Ludwigshafen gutted by fire a week ago to pay a farewell tribute to the nine victims of the blaze.
Nine coffins, draped with Turkish flags, were placed in front of the ruins of the building for an interfaith service as people packed the area around the building. Following the service, the bodies of the victims, who included five children, were flown to their hometown in the southeastern Anatolian province of Gaziantep for burial.
Kaplan called for brotherhood of people
In addition to Turkey's State Minister Said Yazıcıoglu and German Integration Commissioner Maria Böhmer, Kamil Kaplan, who lost his mother, wife and two children in the fire, also delivered a brief speech at the gathering.
"Our sadness is very deep. To everyone here sharing our grief, thank you very much," Kaplan told the audience, as he thanked the German police, the fire department and the mayor for their efforts.
"Although we are Turks, we live here. We brought our children into the world here and we raised them here. My sole desire is for Turks and Germans to live side by side as brothers," Kaplan said, apologizing for not being able to speak longer.
Suspicion of racist attack
Police have yet to determine what caused the fire, which injured 60 people and exposed tensions between Germans and the country's main immigrant community.
Referring to the incident as an "accident" in his speech, Yazıcıoğlu reiterated his government's call for a rapid and thorough investigation of the cause of the fire. "My earnest wish and desire is that this tragic accident become a turning point in relations between the Turkish and German communities, which have from time to time gone through turbulent times and I hope that from now on that these kinds of sad incidents don't recur," Yazıcıoğlu said.
"We will continue expressing our sadness in a dignified manner because we will continue living together with German society," he added, as he also thanked German authorities for their efforts.
Addressing the Turkish community living in Cologne later in the day, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he believed that a thorough investigation of the incident would relieve not only Turks in Germany, but Germans as well.
Böhmer: "This is their second home"
Böhmer said German authorities have been doing their best to find the cause of the fire and pledged to help Turkish families who lost their relatives in the blaze. These families will travel to Turkey for the funeral, she noted and added: But we know that they will come back again because Ludwigshafen is their second hometown. We will always be there for them, and we will provide our best assistance to them."
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, accompanied by a delegation from his party, also participated in the ceremony in Ludwigshafen.
Following the ceremony, Yazıcıoglu and Kaplan flew to Turkey on board a private plane carrying the bodies to Gaziantep.
Meanwhile, Lothar Liebig, a regional prosecutor in the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where Ludwigshafen is located, said the investigation continues and that no clear leads have yet emerged. (TZ/AG)
