Berlin, Ramadan 24, 1434, Aug 2, 2013, SPA -- Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl defended Friday a statement he made 30 year ago saying he wanted to halve the number of Turks living in Germany. His remarks were made in a meeting with late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the early 1980's and were published this week by the online edition of Germany's Spiegel magazine after they were declassified. The minutes of the meeting record Kohl telling Thatcher: "that it would be necessary over the next four years to reduce the number of Turks by 50 percent - but he could not say that publicly." "Germany had no problems with the Portuguese, the Italians, even the south-east Asians, because these communities integrated well," the minutes record Kohl saying. "But the Turks came from a very distinctive culture and did not integrate well," he said. Kohl made the remarks shortly after he came to power in 1982. In a statement released Friday, Kohl said that his remarks "were at the time in Germany already part of debate on policy concerning foreigners." -- SPA 22:33 LOCAL TIME 19:33 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/1134388