14 December 2005

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has described the denial of the Holocaust by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as incredible, her spokesman said on Wednesday in Berlin.

She robustly rejected the previous day's anti-Semitic remarks by the Iranian leader. Thomas Steg, the deputy government spokesman in Berlin, added that the cabinet had discussed the topic and there had not been any doubt that Ahmadinejad had made "shocking remarks".

Merkel would seek a joint European rejection of the remarks when she met E.U. leaders Thursday and Friday in Brussels for a European summit. Germany was also likely to seek a strong rejection by the international community by way of the United Nations.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had previously said Wednesday that the Ahmadinejad remarks were "shocking and utterly unacceptable", denying as they did not only the right of Israel to exist but also the Holocaust.

"I cannot avoid saying that this damages bilateral relations and puts a strain on the negotiations over the Iranian nuclear programme," he told the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs Wednesday.

He said the charge d'affaires at the Iranian embassy in Berlin had already had the German government's protest expressed to him.

DPA

Subject: German news