Pope seeks Christian-Muslim dialogue in Turkey
28 November 2006, Reuters
ANKARA (Reuters) - Pope Benedict embarked on Tuesday on a highly sensitive visit to Turkey, saying his four-day trip would be an opportunity for reconciliation and dialogue between Christians and Muslims.
Benedict infuriated Muslims in September with a lecture that they said seemed to depict Islam as an irrational religion tainted with violence. He later expressed regret at the pain his comments caused but stopped short of a full apology.
"The scope of this visit is dialogue, brotherhood, a commitment to understanding between cultures, between religions, for reconciliation," the Pope told reporters on board his aircraft before leaving Rome for Turkey.
The visit by the leader of 1.1 billion Roman Catholics was originally intended to be a pre-eminently Christian event but it has taken on wider political ramifications in Western-Islamic relations, Catholic-Muslim relations and Turkey's own aspirations to be part of Europe.
The Pope will have to attempt to repair damage on several fronts as he visits the predominantly Muslim country that is officially secular. He will land in Ankara later on Tuesday.
More than 20,000 Muslim protesters rallied against the Pope's trip on Sunday in Istanbul, chanting "Pope don't come", but Benedict said he was expecting a warm reception.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Muslim, said the four-day visit would help contribute to global peace.
"We as a nation ... will show hospitality to the Pope as befits Turkey. We hope that this important visit will contribute to the search for global peace," Erdogan told members of his AK Party, which has roots in political Islam.
INTER-FAITH DIALOGUE
The 79-year-old Pope said his trip was aimed at improving relations both with Muslims and Orthodox Christians.
"Dialogue in many dimensions: between cultures, between Christianity and Islam, dialogue with our Christian brothers, and above all the Orthodox Church of Constantinople and certainly a better understanding between us all."
In a conciliatory gesture toward his Muslim hosts, Benedict will visit Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque.
Turkish newspaper commentators struck a positive note, describing the visit as a meeting of the Western and Muslim worlds rather than as a clash of civilizations, as some small Islamist and nationalist groups in Turkey have portrayed it.
"Benvenuto!" ("Welcome" in Italian) said the Sabah daily, hailing the Pope's visit as "historic" at a time of increased tensions between the West and Islam.
Before becoming pope last year, Benedict had said Turkey's Muslim religion meant it did not belong in the EU.
Most Turks seem indifferent to the visit by the Pope, but security will be very tight with protests expected by a small but vociferous minority of Islamists and hardline nationalists.
The Milliyet newspaper said President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who invited the Pope to Turkey, will present him with a copy of the imperial order for tolerance issued by the Ottoman Sultan who seized Istanbul from the Christian Byzantine Greeks in 1453.
After his talks with Sezer and with Turkey's top Muslim official, the Pope will visit Ephesus where the Virgin Mary is reputed to have lived and died.
The main focus of his four-day trip will be talks on Christian unity with Patriarch Bartholomew, Istanbul-based spiritual head of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians.
