Rome - Mr Silvio Berlusconi's controversial outburst on western civilisation's "superiority" over Islam, which caused consternation in Arab countries, has come back to haunt him - on his party's own website.
The Italian Prime Minister insisted he had been misquoted by a mischievous Italian press corps. But his own Forza Italia party website quotes him as saying during his Berlin visit last week: "The West must be conscious of the superiority of its culture and put in place a process of development for part of the world which remains 1,400 years behind".
The website, under the heading "West means tolerance", made it clear it was quoting Mr Berlusconi during his visit to Berlin to meet the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schr÷der, and President Putin of Russia.
A centre-left opposition deputy, Mr Roberto Giachetti, discovered the faux pas on a trawl through the Internet. "The enemy is at home," he quipped.
Mr Berlusconi (65) met the envoys of eight Muslim states for three hours on Tuesday during which he denied saying that the West was superior to Islam. Iinstead, he claimed his comments had been misinterpreted.
Mr Berlusconi's comments have brought international condemnation on Italy.