ANKARA
Turkey has expressed its concern over the release of three suspects in an ongoing case on the murder of eight Turks by an extremist right-wing group in Germany and called on the authorities to properly punish the criminals.
Releasing a written statement Tuesday, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Turkey had been closely monitoring the investigation process launched by German authorities following the unveiling of the killing of eight Turks by the far-right German group National Socialist Underground (NSU) between the years 2000-2006.
The ministry said three of the suspects in the murder case had been recently released as they were deemed unlikely to escape, adding that such development had given rise to concerns over the potential release of other suspects in the future.
"It is our rightful expectation from the German authorities to conduct the investigation attentively and punish the criminals as deserved following a fair judicial process," the statement said.
In the same statement, the foreign ministry also condemned the recent attack against a mosque in the German city of Delmenhorst.
"It is a humanitarian duty and responsibility to preserve the sacredness of places of prayer regardless of the religion they belong to," it said.
The presence of the neo-Nazi cell called the National Socialist Underground was revealed last November when two members of the group were found dead after a suspected joint suicide and another surrendered to security forces.
It was unveiled that the cell had committed murders in several German cities without being detected by the German authorities for years.
The group is being held responsible for the death of eight Turkish and one Greek immigrant, as well as a German policewoman.
