Stirring Controversy

The demonstrators, mostly of Turkish origin, complained that they were slandered by the state-funded ARD channel, in an episode

of the "Tatort" or "Crime Scene" detective series broadcast on December 23.

Around 20,000 members of the Alevi community traveled from all over Germany to gather near Cologne's cathedral under the slogan "against Alevi character assassination by ARD" television.

"Reviving old prejudices"

A criminal complaint has been filed by the group against NDR, the network that produced the program, accusing it of incitement to racial hatred.

"It is appalling to us that a public and legitimate broadcaster would revive these centuries' old prejudices," said Ali Ertan Toprak, the secretary general of the Alevi community in Germany.

Alevis say they have been the subject of accusations of incest from Sunni Muslims over the centuries because they include women and children in their religious rituals.

Members of the Alevi community in Berlin tried to stop the broadcast of the episode but were unsuccessful.

Network defends program

To answer the complaints, the network reiterated in the opening credits that the program was a work of fiction and in no way intended to harm religious feelings or rekindle prejudices against the Alevi community.

The episode in question is entitled "To Whom Honor is Due" and dealt with incest and murder within an Alevi family living in Germany.

During the course of the program, investigators discover that a young Alevi girl was murdered by her father after she confronted him about impregnating her sister.

The writer and director of the program, Angelina Maccarone, defended the program in an interview with German radio station, DeutschlandRadio, saying that she in no way intended to offend any religious community

"It is not hard for me to say that I am incredible sorry," added Maccarone, adding that the response had caught her completely by surprise.

Volker Herres, director of programming at NDR said: "We in no way intended this Tatort episode to injure any religious feeling or to substantiate prejudices against a religious community."

Herres said the film had opened up a can of worms which was "absolutely not what we wanted," adding that the incest storyline was an "individual tragedy," not to be confused with any "religious context," and which could not be "generalised."

He added that the Alevis should "respect artistic liberty" and "withdraw their accusation of racial defamation, an accusation totally unfounded."

Alevis, considered by some to be a sub-group of Shiite Islam, worship in assembly houses instead of mosques. Around 20 percent of Muslims in Turkey are Alevis and an estimated 700,000 reside in Germany.