Pope Benedict XVI's trip to Turkey this week is not shaping up to be an easy one. In fact, it seems as if everybody he will be visiting in Ankara and Istanbul would prefer he not come at all.
Some 25,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Istanbul on Sunday chanting "No to the pope" and "Don't come insidious pope" while waving signs depicting the pontiff as the grim reaper. Organized by an Islamist political party, the protest was the biggest yet against the pope's visit to Turkey, set to begin on Tuesday.
Muslims are still angered by a lecture Benedict gave in September, when he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor who wrote in a dialogue with a Persian that the Prophet Muhammad had brought "only evil and inhuman" things. The speech, made during a visit to his native Germany, appeared to link Islam to violence. The pope never apologized to the extent Muslims have demanded.
The pope also didn't make any friends with a recent accidental reference to Istanbul as "Constantinople," the city's name before the Ottomans took it in 1453.
The Vatican, read one banner waved by the "Felicity Party," a strongly pro-Islam party, "is a source of terror" as 4,000 riot police looked on. Many Muslims in Turkey are sceptical of the West and see the pope as a messenger of Western intolerance toward Islam. Indeed, even Mehmet Ali Agca, in jail in Turkey for attempting to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981, got into the act. After having his request for release turned down (he said he wanted to meet the pope) he warned Benedict to stay away, according to the Mirror.
The Turkish government was hoping the pope's visit would highlight Turkey as a Western-looking secular democracy and would shore up its ambitions of joining the European Union. Instead, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül had at first elected not to meet the pope during his visit, claiming scheduling conflicts with the NATO summit in Riga this week. Erdogan has since reversed his decision and agreed on Monday to meet the pope at Ankara's airport before he takes off for Riga, a government spokesman told Reuters.
Benedict is also controversial in Turkey due to comments in 2004, prior to his becoming pope, that Turkey didn't belong in the European Union. "Turkey has always represented a different continent, in permanent contrast to Europe," he said. Irrespective of the pope's visit this week, Turkey's EU ambitions took another hit on Monday as negotiations to allow Turkey to open up its ports to Cyprus broke down in Finland.
In addition to boosting the dialogue between Catholics and Muslims, the pope will also be travelling to Istanbul to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the leader of the world's Orthodox Christians. The Vatican, which oversees the world's 1 billion Catholics, is interested in deepening ties between the two churches, which split in the 11th century. But some in the Orthodox Church, encompassing 250 million faithful, have been wary of becoming too close to the pope.
Istanbul was a major Christian capital until it fell to the Ottomans. The pope will be walking a tightrope of expectations during his trip. While his itinerary includes a visit to the famous Blue Mosque, particular attention will be paid should he visit the Haghia Sophia, a 6th century church later converted into a mosque and which now serves as a secular museum. Should Benedict cross himself or mutter a prayer as he enters, it would be sure to inflame Muslims in Turkey.
The pope steered clear of the controversy at the Vatican on Sunday saying only, "I wish to send cordial greetings to the dear Turkish people." According to Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, who serves as the Vatican's foreign minister, the pope never had any doubts about his trip to Turkey.
cgh/ap/reuters
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