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An apartment building fire that led to the death of a Turkish woman and her 5-year-old son in the German town of Eberswalde last weekend is being investigated for suspected arson, German state-run broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) reported, citing authorities.
RBB quoted Ingo Kechichian, spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Brandenburg, as saying: “We are not assuming that there was an [electrical fault], but rather that the fire was caused by deliberate behavior.”
No further details have been released.
According to the German DPA news agency, investigators also have preliminary evidence that suggests arson.
Mostly immigrant families lived in the building where the fire broke out, according to the police.
The Turkish woman, identified as Emine Çoban, and her 5-year-old son, Umut, were killed when the fire broke out in a three-story apartment building in Eberswalde late on Saturday. Six other people were injured, four of them seriously.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing and witnesses are currently being questioned.
Çoban’s husband, Eyüp, who spoke to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency earlier this week called for a thorough investigation into the fire, asking authorities to ascertain whether it was due an electrical fault or other cause.
The father said he has some questions regarding the fire and finds it strange that a beauty salon at the entrance of the building caught fire while the döner shop next to it was unscathed.
Eyüp Çoban’s uncle, Adil, told Anadolu that Turkish, Ukrainian and Azerbaijani families were living in the building, which was owned by a Turk.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry’s support center said on X that Turkey is closely following the incident, which is under investigation by local German authorities, while a senior government official has called on German authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the fire.
President of Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) Abdullah Eren said on X that he expects the German authorities to investigate the incident thoroughly and meticulously, recalling past tragedies that “left deep scars” on the Turkish psyche.
Germany is home to one of the largest Turkish diasporas worldwide, estimated at 3 million.
Turks have been subjected to xenophobic attacks including arson in the past. As a result, such incidents immediately revive past tragedies, with many suspecting the likelihood of a deliberately set fire.
In one of the most serious instances of racist violence in modern Germany, a far-right arson attack took place in Solingen, killing five members of a Turkish immigrant family in 1993.