Nermin Aydemir JTW Columnist printable version send your friend message to author add comment ()

Friday, 9 January 2009

Nine people died, five of them children, and 20 others injured in fire in an apartment in the German city of Ludwigshafen on February 3^rd. Residents were not able to escape as the wooden staircase collapsed shortly after the fire broke out. Adults threw their children out to save their life before jumping out themselves. The Ludwigshafen city mayor, Eva Lohse, regarded the calamity as the greatest fire since WW2. Indeed, the terrible images of children being brought out of the flames will remain with us for a long time as the mayor said. More bodies may be found according to the police spokeswoman since investigators were not immediately able to enter parts of the smoldering building. Due to the structure, much of it made of wood, the building is in danger of collapsing

52 people, most of them of Turkish origin, were registered as living in the four-storey building. Yet, a significant number of non-residents were in the building during the calamity to watch a carnival procession from the building. The cause of the fire still remains unclear. People of Turkish origin in the country are apprehensive of the situation due to the suspects of sabotage. Turkish officials, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and foreign minister Ali Babacan, asked German officials pointed out the possibility of sabotage in the incident and asked for further investigation. German authorities expressed their grief and said such investigation would take place.

Ludwigshafen is not the only fire in Germany. Several similar incidents occurred in country killing and injuring many. Yet the doubts make things complicated. The fire revived memories of a brutal attack on Turks in Germany in 1993, according to Today’s Zaman. Five Turks were killed in the arson attack by right-wing extremists on a house in the western German city of Solingen, the worst attack on Germany's 2, 5-million Turkish people to date.

Investigation is due to shed light on the incident. Yet, whether the incident is a racist attack or not, the fire will not change the fact that millions of people of Turkish origin have been living in the country for decades. Neither will any possible racist attack have the ability to send all “schwarzkops” back to the country of origin. Immigrants, Turks as well as many from various other countries have been living in Germany, like any other country in the world. Moreover, the migration trend seems to be much greater in the future than it was in the past.

Extremists, including racists, unfortunately take place all around the world. What carries importance at this point is to keep the mainstream society away from polarization and maintain the “peaceful coexistence” among various subcultures. German public opinion carries a significant responsibility on its shoulders. Much needs to be done for thwarting the xenophobic schema. Opinion leaders and politicians in Germany are hardly doing their job in this regard. It would not be wrong to say that no German newspaper opened adequate space for the tragedy. That the race between Hillary and Obama takes the headlines in most widely circulated German newspapers just one day after the death of nine people is disappointing. It is even difficult to find any relevant information from German sources. Similarly no high-rank official went to the city to share the grief. Would the Turkish society not feel them much better if they saw the Chancellor, Angelica Merkel standing by them?

* The article is based on the information from Associated Press and Reuters.   13 February 2008