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  The World from Berlin: The Pope Mends Fences

The World from Berlin The Pope Mends Fences

The pope's first day in Turkey was a success. Not only did the Turkish prime minister not give him the cold shoulder, but Benedict XVI said all the right things.

Everyone thought Pope Benedict XVI's trip to Turkey this week was going to be a difficult one. But the head of the Catholic Church had a surprise or two up his sleeve. Not only did he repeatedly go out of the way to emphasize his respect for Islam and the brotherhood between Muslims and Christians, but he also expressed support for Turkish membership in the European Union.

German commentators were also caught off guard.

Contrary to expectations, "the first day of the papal visit proceeded downright harmoniously," the Financial Times Deutschland was surprised to report. The business daily welcomes the Pope's conciliatory demeanor, and says "it would be wrong to confuse this reservation in tone with cowardice." The pope seeks dialog with leading Muslims, and found it with Turkey's "Religion Minister" Ali Bardakoglu, who "showed that he sees the conversation with the pope as a prelude for more," the paper writes. The editorial concludes that Benedict XVI understands Turkey's "key role in the modernization of Islam," which is why his sojourn in Turkey "could ultimately become more than just crisis aversion."

The Handelsblatt also considers the handshake between the pope and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to be "an important improvement" -- given Erdogan's initial refusal to even meet the pope. The business paper applauds "courageous conduct" on both sides: Benedict because he "faces up to his critics," and Erdogan because "he made the meeting possible" despite the protests. The editorial hails Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk for "enabling a relatively modern Turkish society," and says that the goal of the papal visit is not to "lump everything 'Islamic' or 'Christian' together," but rather to "recognize the exact differences between societies." The paper says "in no other way can real dialog be achieved."

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung describes the pope's first day in Ankara as "primarily political." Although the media widely reported the pope telling Erdogan that he welcomed the idea of Turkey being "part of the EU," the center-right paper thinks it wiser to wait for clarification from the Vatican, since "the phrase could, in this context, also mean a 'privileged partnership.'" Furthermore, although the pope met with Ali Bardakoglu to talk about religious affairs, the paper says the meeting "also had political implications" because it was preceded by the pope's comments in September which many Muslims felt were disrespectful of the Prophet Muhammad.

-- Alex Bakst, 3:15 p.m. CET

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Does NATO Have a Future?

Just what is the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation? And more specifically, what is the group's future in Afghanistan. Leaders of NATO member countries were gathered in Riga, Latvia on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss exactly these questions -- with the focus being on the refusal of some member countries to send troops to the more dangerous southern part of Afghanistan.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung writes with some degree of cynicism that "in the search for its purpose, NATO is thinking about a future as a hermaphrodite." The center-left paper is referring to NATO's ambiguity as "an alliance for the defense of its members" on the one hand and a "global intervention force" on the other. "The strength of NATO lay in its restriction to a singular purpose: the common defense against the Soviet Union," the paper writes. But in today's "extraordinarily complex" world, "this strength has become a weakness." It is for this reason that the Munich-based paper believes "the alliance is politically disunited," to the point that "the conflicting interests that could be unleashed among the partners could rip apart the alliance." The editorial stresses the danger of such a break-up: "Given the unclear international situation, it is not the dumbest idea to keep a functional defensive alliance alive."

The Financial Times Deutschland claims "nation building in Afghanistan has succeeded in that it has been tackled in a very structured fashion," but at the same time "it has failed in that beyond implementing plans according to schedule, there was a lack of courage to take firm action in specific cases." The paper is dissatisfied with the summit's declaration which the editorial says "omitted the truly precarious questions -- the international military commitment and the fight against drug cultivation" in Afghanistan. But the "ugly skirmish" over troop commitments and responsibilities "at least led to calls for an overall concept," which the editorial says is direly needed, lest NATO's enemies are able to win over the "hearts of the people."

-- Alex Bakst, 4:30 p.m. CET