Türkiye has commemorated the victims of a 1993 racist arson attack in the German city of Solingen which killed five members of a Turkish family.
"We remember with respect our five citizens who lost their lives 32 years ago in the racist Solingen attack," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The ministry also paid tribute to Mevlude Genc, who lost two daughters, two granddaughters, and a niece in the attack but later became a symbol of reconciliation in Germany for her calls for peace and restraint in the aftermath. She died in 2022 and is often remembered as the “Wise Mother.”
"On this occasion, we once again honour the memory of Mevlude Genc… with respect and gratitude," the ministry said.
The matriarch of a Turkish "guest worker" family Mevlude Genc working towards reconciliation between Germans and Turks has died. Her two daughters, two granddaughters and niece were killed in an arson attack by neo-Nazis in the 1990s.
Fight against racism, Islamophobia
The statement added that Türkiye would continue to confront “rising racism, xenophobia and hatred against Islam on every platform.”
On May 29, 1993, four far-right German youths aged between 16 and 23 set fire to the home of the Turkish Genc family in Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The attack killed five people and injured 14 others.
Three of the perpetrators were sentenced to 10 years in prison, and the fourth received a 15-year sentence.
The attack shocked Germany and drew international condemnation, prompting debates around racism and integration in the country.
