Germans celebrate peacefully in Berlin after win

By Iain Rogers

BERLIN (Reuters) - Berlin police reported no serious trouble immediately after Germany's thrilling 3-2 Euro 2008 semi-final win over Turkey on Wednesday in a match watched by hundreds of thousands of Germans and Turks around the city.

A police spokeswoman said there had been 11 arrests for minor offences at the 'fan mile' in the centre of the city, where an estimated 500,000 people had gathered to watch the eagerly-anticipated game on three giant screens.

Minor scuffles broke out after Turkey took the lead in the first half of the match being played in Basel, Switzerland, but police quickly calmed the situation, Reuters Television pictures showed.

Jubilant Germans took to the streets on foot and in cars after the final whistle, waving black, red and gold flags and celebrating Germany's place in Sunday's final in Vienna against Spain or Russia, who play on Thursday.

Germany looked to have won the match in the 79th minute when Miroslav Klose's header gave them a 2-1 lead. Semih Senturk then leveled from close range before Turkish hopes were cruelly dashed with Philipp Lahm's 90th-minute winner.

"I really must say I often had to catch my breath," said Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was at the stadium in Basel. "Of course, I heartily congratulate our team."

GERMAN NERVES

"Madness! Our nerves!" tabloid newspaper Bild said on its web site (www.bild.de), adding that the German team had been outplayed by the Turks and would have to up their game if they were to have any chance on Sunday.

"There was no trace of the thrilling, rapid and direct play we saw against the Portuguese in the quarter-final," the paper wrote. "Was it arrogance or nervousness?"

In the heavily Turkish Kreuzberg district of Berlin, Germans and Turks partied past midnight, chanting the names of their nations, beating drums, whistling and singing.

About 2.7 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany, more than in any other country in western Europe, and the flags of both countries have been fluttering side-by-side from buildings and cars since the start of the three-week tournament.

There was some tension between Turks and Germany-supporting Kurds in Kreuzberg after the match, but riot police moved to separate the two groups and they quickly dispersed.

The Kurds taunted the Turks with chants of "Deutschland! Deutschland" and "Turks terrorists!" while the Turkish side responded with "One Turkey!"

"This has nothing to do with soccer, this is just politics," said one young Turkish woman at the scene, adding that the Kurds were supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

The party, which the EU and the U.S. classify as a terrorist organization, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 with the aim of establishing an ethnic homeland in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.