BERLIN, December 6 /TASS/. In a sudden change in stance, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel did a complete U-turn by making her first public call for banning burkas or full Islamic veils.

"The wearing of burkas should be forbidden wherever it is possible from the legal point of view. It’s not part of our culture," Merkel stated in her speech at the Christian Democratic Union federal congress in Essen on Tuesday.

Earlier, the chancellor described the wearing of Muslim clothes, which fully covers the body, as a "sign of failed integration." She tried to evade answering the question if such a ban was possible in Germany. The German Interior Ministry said that the adoption of such measures would be problematic.