Turks remain concerned over Neo-Nazi terror in Germany

A Turkish delegation is on a five-day visit to Germany to be briefed on the progress in the investigation of racially motivated attacks by neo-Nazis. The delegation was invited by the German Federal Foreign Office as part of the Guest Program of the Federal Republic of Germany to inform Turkish visitors on the findings of commission inquiries that have been set up by both federal and state parliaments. During the visit, the Turkish delegation met on Tuesday with members of the inquiry commission in the state assembly of Thuringia as well as Birgit Diezel, the speaker of the assembly. The state is also investigating the failures in the security and intelligence forces as a separate inquiry set up by the Interior Ministry. Both are looking into a string of racially motivated murders carried out across Germany by a neo-Nazi group from Thuringen that evaded detection for more than a decade. Turks continue to have uneasy feelings in the German city of Erfurt, the capital of the eastern state of Thuringia, where all the prime suspects of the neo Nazi serial murders of 10 people, including eight Turks, were born and nurtured. "Our people are in a state of fear," said Bulent Canpolat, speaking to a Turkish delegation composed of lawmakers and media professionals on Monday at the Center for Migration and Integration (Das Zentrum fur Integration und Migration in German or ZIM) in Erfurt. "There are still incidents going on here and albeit minor ones," he added, referring to racially motivated attacks against immigrants, mainly Turks, who compose the largest minority in Germany with some 3 million people.

According to Beate Tröster, general director of ZIM, Turkish politicians were the first ever group that came to the state to look into problems faced by immigrants. She admitted that she was ashamed by the murders of eight Turks, one Greek and one national policewoman by the neo-Nazi groups that originated in her state. "I can do nothing about that unfortunately," she said, stressing that she has confidence in German authorities’ investigation into the previously unsolved murders.