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German President Horst Koehler resigns

31 May 2010 15:14 (UTC +04:00)

"I announce my resignation from the office of the federal presidency with immediate affect," KÃ¶hler said in Berlin.

He said the decision came after withering criticism of comments he made connecting Germany’s military deployment in Afghanistan with the country’s economic interests.

"This criticism had absolutely no justification," said the 67-year-old former head of the International Monetary Fund.

Looking emotional, KÃ¶hler asked for his supporters to understand his surprising resignation. The conservative Christian Democrats was nominated to be the country’s largely ceremonial head of state in 2004 and re-elected in 2009.

"It was an honour for me to serve Germany," he said.

His remarks just over a week ago prompted a furious debate about Germanyâ€™s military engagement â€“ and whether KÃ¶hler had damaged the image of the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

KÃ¶hler began by saying that Germany was in the country, alongside its allies, to ensure its security and that it was good and proper for these issues to be openly and robustly discussed.

He then added: â€œBut my estimation is that, on the whole, we are on the way to understanding, even broadly in society, that a country of our size, with this orientation toward foreign trade and therefore also dependence on foreign trade, has to be aware that when in doubt in case of an emergency, military deployment is also necessary to protect our interests.

For example, free trade routes, for example to prevent instability in a whole region, which certainly have an negative impact on our opportunities via trade, jobs and income. All of that ought to be discussed and I believe that we are not doing too badly.â€

The remarks appeared to be a major departure from the political orthodoxy on the Afghanistan mission, which says the Bundeswehr is there to protect Germany from terrorist groups who would use the country as a base were it to descend into lawlessness or Islamist theocracy. But KÃ¶hler said his comments were "misunderstood" and that he was not referring to the mission in Afghanistan, where Germany has 4,500 troops in a NATO-led force fighting a Taliban-led insurgency.According to the German constitution, the president of the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, will temporarily take over KÃ¶hler’s duties. Currently that post is held by Bremen Mayor Jens BÃ¶hrnsen from the centre-left Social Democrats.