Turkey's foreign minister said today that a killing spree of mainly Turkish immigrants in Germany between 2000 and 2007 was "a racist attack that should not go unpunished," as he visited victims' families in Berlin.
At a closed-door meeting with families, Ahmet Davutoglu vowed that Turkey would keep a close eye on the high-profile case that has shocked and shamed Germany, according to a foreign ministry official.
On Monday, the hotly anticipated trial opened of 38-year-old Beate Zschaepe, accused of being at the heart of the murderous neo-Nazi cell that called itself the National Socialist Underground (NSU).
Zschaepe denies the charge of complicity in the murders of eight ethnic Turks, a Greek immigrant and a German policewoman.
The discovery in 2011 of the gang embarrassed authorities, exposing deep security flaws and raising uncomfortable questions about how the cell went undetected for so long in a country proud of owning up to its Nazi past.
Davutoglu said that while not all Germans could be held responsible for the murders, questions still remained to be answered.
"What upset us is that the German government long failed to realise that the racist gang came from German society and instead considered the Turks as a potential risk," the minister told reporters at the Turkish embassy in Berlin.
He praised victims' families for their "dignified" and "self-confident" stand during Monday's trial despite what they have suffered over the past decade.
After a meeting in the southeastern Berlin district of Kreuzberg, home to a sizeable Turkish population, Davutoglu called on the Turkish community in Germany to "stand tall", stressing that "Turks are essential and indispensible elements of this society.
