Germany condemns Ankara bomb attack
Berlin says it will work closely with Turkish agencies in fight against terrorism
BERLIN
Germany has condemned the terrorist attack in Ankara which killed at least 37 people on Sunday night, and expressed solidarity with the Turkish people.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said the government is outraged at the two terrorist attacks on Sunday, one targeting Turkish capital Ankara, and another targeting a beach resort in Ivory Coast, which left dozens dead and many injured.
“We are condemning these acts in the strongest terms,” Seibert told a news conference in Berlin on Monday.
“We are condemning movements or ideologies that seed nothing but hate and death. We will continue to strongly support all actors fighting terrorism,” he added.
Seibert recalled the terror attack in Istanbul on Jan. 12, which saw 12 German tourists die, and said Germans and Turks had demonstrated close solidarity against terrorism.
“Today we are in solidarity with the Turkish people. Germany stands closely side-by-side with Turkey in its fight against terrorism,” he stressed.
Germany’s interior ministry spokesman, Tobias Plate, said the German and Turkish authorities were in close cooperation on security issues and in the fight against terrorism.
“The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) is in close cooperation with its Turkish counterparts. We have recently concluded three memoranda of understanding, and one of these documents is particularly for further enhancing our close cooperation in the fight against terrorism,” he told reporters at government’s regular news conference.
Turkey has long demanded more effective measures from Berlin in curbing the propaganda and funding activities of the terrorist PKK in Germany.
Germany, which is home to around 700,000 Kurdish immigrants, outlawed the PKK in 1993, following violent protests by its members.
According to reports by the German domestic intelligence agency, BfV, the PKK has 13,000 adherents in the country. It is believed to use various associations for fundraising and recruiting new members.
PKK's terrorist attacks claimed almost 36,000 lives in Turkey. Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union list the PKK as a terrorist organization.
