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Pope Benedict XVI in Turkey

In the Shadow of Muhammad

By Alexander Smoltczyk in Ankara

The pope arrived in Ankara on Tuesday to a reception of empty streets, somber-faced officials and indifferent Turks. But the pope smiled. And even managed a joke at his own expense. All part of his Velvet Invasion.

On Tuesday morning, it almost seemed as though Ankara was preparing itself for the arrival of a shipment of toxic waste. The airport and its surroundings were almost completely deserted; the streets on the way into the Turkish capital were empty; and the soldiers posted on the hills stood motionless.

When the Airbus Piazza del Duomo Lecce flying in from Rome came to a stop on the runway, it was immediately surrounded by elite troops, with broad shining ammunition belts slung across their shoulders. Not a single banner was to be seen -- indeed, given the controversy preceding the visit, a welcome sign may even have seemed in poor taste.

"This is not a political visit," the pope said on board the plane to Turkey, "but a pastoral mission aimed at promoting dialogue and a common commitment to peace." His voice was hoarse, and he seemed in a somber mood. The journalists should be aware of their responsibilities, he said. Over the next few days every word will count. "Great results cannot be expected from three days, I would say the value is symbolic," he said. It is all about the gesture.

Muhammad overshadowing his every move

There were no anthems at the airfield -- no streamers or children. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stood at the foot of the gangway and looked as though he were trying to avoid even the appearance of a smile. As the two walked along the short red carpet to the airport's VIP area, the pope's coat seemed to bulge at the shoulders and the back, as if he was actually wearing a bullet-proof vest underneath. Perhaps just an illusion.

If this is supposed to be, as viewed by the nationalist-Islamist Felicity Party, a crusade to re-establish Byzantium in the 99-percent Muslim Turkey, then it will be the most gentle invasion in history. It seems more of a repentance than an occupation. The pope's September remarks, interpreted by many to be insulting to the Prophet Muhammad, overshadow his every move.

Hardly into the VIP-room in the airport, Benedict XVI assures his Turkish hosts that the Vatican would certainly welcome the accession of Turkey to the European Union. A little later, at the shrine to the secular founder of Turkey Kemal Mustafa Atatürk, the Pope bowed his head and folded his hands as he would before the grave of one of the apostles.

And he smiled. A lot. He kept smiling when Erdogan accidentally dropped the lid to the gift box the pope brought. He keept smiling when Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer received him with a stone-cold expression on his face. And when receiving the diplomatic corps, he calmly accepted the fact that Oman snubbed him by only sending a deputy.

During both the pope's speeches on Monday, it was clear just how hard he was working to put the past behind him. Every time he uttered the word "Christian" is was immediately followed up by "and Muslim." He wanted to avoid any hint that he felt his fellow Christians should enjoy precedence over the world's Muslims.

"There are very many Christian and Muslim monuments that testify to Turkey's glorious past," he told Ali Bardakoglu, head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directories. He went on to praise Turkey for its having preserved its historical monuments -- and ignored the fact that churches and cemetaries belonging to Armenians, Greeks and Syrians are left to decay in Anatolia. He emphasized the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, which enumerated the common Abrahamic roots of Islam and Christianity. He spoke of both religions as upholding the dignity of man.

A rhetorical masterpiece

And for one brief moment, the pope even showed his sense of humor. "I would like to recite a few sentences from Pope Gregorius VII from the year 1076, which he directs at a Muslim prince from North Africa…," he began, and everyone trembled at the thought of a new blunder, another misunderstood Koran-exegesis. Benedict XVI though seemed to enjoy the moment. He continued: "Gregorius VII spoke of the special love ('caritas') that Christians and Muslims owe each other, for 'we both believe in and attest to the one God, if in different ways, every day we praise Him and revere Him as the creator of the centuries and ruler of this world.'"

Although in most of his speeches, Benedict XVI makes a habit of condemning the rule of secularism in the industrialized world, in Ankara he actually preached the virtues of Turkish secularism before the gathered diplomats. Civil society in Turkey, he praised, "is clearly separated from religion, so that each can be autonomous in its own field, always respecting the sphere of the other."

It was a rhetorical masterpiece. While praising Turkey's constitutional separation between church and state, the pope was at the same time urging the country to live up to its own law. "I am pleased that believers, whatever religion they may belong to, continue to enjoy this right in the certainty that freedom of religion is one of the cornerstones of humanity's freedom."

On Wednesday, Benedict XVI is off to Izmir to visit a site where Mary is believed to have lived and died. From there, he will move on to Istanbul. And again, the pope will likely be met with a large degree of indifference.

But Benedict does have one consolation: his predecessor didn't have it any better. John Paul II also travelled to Turkey -- with stops in Ankara, Istanbul and Ephesus -- right at the beginning of his papacy in November 1979. He too found a cool reception, complete with insults and death threats -- just like the pope from Germany.