'Attack in Germany reflects growing racist attitudes'

ANKARA

Wednesday’s mass shooting in Germany was the latest reflection of growing racist and xenophobic attitudes in Europe, according to a Turkish state agency concerned with Turks living abroad.

Four Turkish nationals were among the nine people killed in the attack in Hanau, near Frankfurt, according to Turkish officials.

"By radicalizing, individuals motivated by an atmosphere of hatred channel themselves into racist attacks like kamikaze drones, as in the cases of New Zealand and Norway," Abdullah Eren, the head of Turkey’s Presidency of Turks and Related Communities Abroad (YTB), said Friday, referring to other racist massacres in recent years.

"Therefore, there is a risk that someone may pop up and carry out a racist attack at any time," he said in a statement.

The attack did not appear out of nowhere but is in fact related to the environment of hate, he stressed.

In order to fight such attacks, the environment of hate in Germany and other European countries should be eliminated, he said.

Eren also extended condolences to the victims' families and a quick recovery to those injured in the shootings.

Stressing the importance of the unity of Turkish society, he said Turkish society and NGOs need to come together without any excuse, standing in unity and solidarity.

Praising Germany's handling so far of the incident, he said this approach should have also been taken for previous attacks.

The gunman, identified by security forces as Tobias R., 43, posted racist videos online before the attack, and afterwards was found dead in his apartment.

A terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand last year targeted Muslims praying in two mosques, leaving 51 dead and 49 wounded.

In 2011, a radical conservative carried out a bomb attack in Oslo, Norway’s capital, and later slaughtered students on nearby Utoya Island. In total, 77 people died and more than 200 others were wounded.