Foreign Minister promises justice to kin of neo-Nazi victims

FRANKFURT / BERLIN

Ahmet Davutoğlu

Turkey will ensure that the neo-Nazi murderers of Turks in Germany are punished for their crimes, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has told victims’ families during a meeting in central Germany.
“Davutoğlu told us he would help. We are very glad about his stance. It shows that the Turkish state stands by us,” said Kerim Şimşek, the son of Enver Şimşek, who was killed by a neo-Nazi group. Kerim Şimşek said Davutoğlu had told the family that the murderers would be revealed.
Semiya Şimşek, the daughter of the murdered Turk, said they would attend a rally Dec. 10 in Kessel in central Germany to protest the killings.
Meanwhile, German authorities called Dec. 1 for help from the public as they investigated the National Socialist Underground, a neo-Nazi cell believed to have murdered 10 people, including eight Turks, in a case that has shocked the country. Describing the case as “extremely complicated and wide-ranging,” the head of the federal prosecutors’ office, Harald Range, said they had taken the decision to throw open the investigation to the public. “We are hoping for evidence from the general public, clues that would otherwise maybe have remained hidden from us,” Range told reporters. German police are also investigating links between the neo-Nazi group and a far-right party with representatives in two state assemblies that could face a ban on its political activities. Germany has more than 400 police and prosecutors looking into how the National Socialist Underground could have remained undetected.
Davutoğlu, meanwhile, will participate in an international conference on Afghanistan to take place in Bonn on Dec. 5, his office said yesterday. A Foreign Ministry statement said Davutoğlu would represent Turkey in the conference and brief the participants on Turkey’s contributions to Afghanistan, including the Istanbul Process on Regional Security and Cooperation for a Secure and Stable Afghanistan, which was adopted at the Istanbul Conference on Afghanistan on Nov. 2. Davutoğlu will hold talks with foreign ministers of other participating countries on the margin of the conference.
Compiled from AA and AFP stories by the Daily News staff.