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Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl denies Iran daily’s story |
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Wednesday, 08 March 2006 |
Iran Focus
 London, Mar. 08 – Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl denied a report in a semi-official Iranian daily picked up by Iran Focus which accused him of agreeing with statements made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the Holocaust, according to a statement received from the former chancellor’s office.
In an email to Iran Focus on Wednesday, Lutz Stroppe, the head of the office of the former chancellor, wrote that Kohl “rejects firmly” the quotation from a government-owned daily in Iran. Jomhouri Islami wrote in its Monday edition that at a dinner gala with Iranian hoteliers and entrepreneurs, Kohl had said that he “heartily agreed” with Ahmadinejad’s remark that the Holocaust was a “myth”.
The article was subsequently picked up and reported by Iran Focus.
Ahmadinejad caused an international furore last year when he publicly declared that the Holocaust was a “myth” and threatened that Israel must be “wiped off the map”.
His comments were supported by senior Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
The country’s state-run media have systematically defended the position of the Iranian president and given extensive coverage to historians and “experts” who deny the Holocaust took place.
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