Turkey has asked Britain for legal assistance in connection with an undercover film in which the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, reported on the poor state of the country's orphanages, a government official said Wednesday.

"We have information that the justice ministry has sent a request to Britain under a bilateral agreement on judicial cooperation," the official, who requested anonymity, told AFP without giving further detail.

The justice ministry was not available for comment.

The undercover documentary, shown on British television last November, provoked anger in Ankara.

After the documentary was shown, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in London that Turkish authorities had launched a "widescale inquiry" about the allegations of mistreatment of disabled children made in the programme.

But he added: "Our children have the right to be protected... and it is not good to disclose the sickness... in a TV programme and it offends Turkish people.

"They are our children. They are Turkish children. They are our sons and daughters and we care about them," he added.

The minister also questioned the undercover filming methods used in the programme, saying: "We actually regret the approach and the attitude displayed for the preparation of this documentary."

The duchess, the former wife of Queen Elizabeth II's second son Prince Andrew, has defended her role in the documentary.