Arnold Schwarzenegger has labelled an exhibit in a Turkish shopping centre that links his name with that of Adolf Hitler "repugnant".

The actor and former governor of California expressed outrage after being alerted to the poster at the Sapphire Mall in Istanbul, Turkey, which asks shoppers "Who would you like to meet?".

The poster then lists names including Turkish independence hero Ataturk and Soviet revolutionary Lenin, as well as other prominent figures such as singer Michael Jackson.

Below all the names there is a large image of the Nazi leader, which has prompted Mr Schwarzenegger to ask for his name to be removed from the list.

He asked Marvin Hier, dean of the human rights organisation the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, to contact the shopping centre and ask for "the offensive exhibit" to be deleted.

"As someone who despises everything that Hitler stood for, it is repugnant to me to have my name in any way associated with history's greatest criminal, responsible for the murder of more than six million Jews, along with millions of other victims."

The Austrian-born actor, who stars in the forthcoming film "The Last Stand", has supported a number of causes of Jewish importance in the past, including, when governor, joining a rally calling for Hamas to release Gilad Shalit.