The five-year trial process of the members and supporters of the Neo-Nazi Terrorist Organization called “National Socialist Underground” (NSU), which is responsible for killing ten people, including eight Turks, various bomb attacks and armed robberies between 2000-2007 in Germany, ended today. The process for this case, which is described as the biggest racist terrorist act in Germany since World War II, has been closely followed since the very beginning by our country and the Turkish community in Germany.

We have taken note that, as a result of this case, the main defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment and the other four were sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment.

However, today's verdict unfortunately failed to reveal, in all its aspects, the background of the NSU murders and its connections within the deep state and intelligence. Moreover, the real perpetrators have not been revealed. In this respect, we do not consider this verdict as satisfactory, neither in the interest of justice, nor for easing public conscience. Our nation shares the feelings and the lasting pain of the Turkish community in Germany and the victims’ families, who suffered and encountered extensive prejudice during the initial stages of investigations.

In this vein, we would like to remind that like the NSU murders, the grief of racist attacks perpetrated against Turks in Hamburg in 1985, in Mölln in 1992 and in Solingen in 1993 is still fresh in our memories.

Within the framework of the promise given by Chancellor Merkel in 2012, bringing all the perpetrators of NSU murders and other unidentified murders, racist and xenophobia related murders to justice is important for strengthening the trust between the Turkish community in Germany and the State’s security and judicial institutions. We will continue to closely follow the issue in the period ahead.

Furthermore, we would like to emphasize once again the necessity of German authorities to take all kinds of measures in order to prevent the recurrence of NSU-like murders, constituting one of the peaks of racism and xenophobia in Germany and to carry out the fight against racism rising in Europe relentlessly. Within this scope, we would like to remind the necessity for politicians and media representatives, in particular, to act with common sense and not to fall into populism.