Pope urges religious tolerance in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Pope Benedict XVI began his pilgrimage among Turkey’s tiny Christian communities Wednesday by paying homage to an Italian priest slain during Islamic protests and expressing sympathy for the pressures facing religious minorities in the Muslim world.

The messages — made at one of the holiest Christian sites in Turkey — could set the tone for the remainder of Benedict’s first papal trip to a Muslim nation as he tries to strengthen bonds with the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians.

The pope is expected to sharpen his calls for what the Vatican calls “reciprocity” — that Muslim demands for greater respect in the West must be matched by increased tolerance and freedom for Christians in Islamic nations.

But too much pressure by the Roman Catholic pontiff could risk new friction with Muslims after broad gestures of goodwill in the opening hours of the trip Tuesday that sought to ease simmering Muslim anger over the pope’s remarks on violence and the Prophet Muhammad.Iraq denounced the pope’s visit as part of a “crusader campaign” against Islam and an attempt to “extinguish the burning ember of Islam” in Turkey. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the declaration — posted on several Islamic militant Web sites — shows the need for faiths to fight “violence in the name of God.”

He said “neither the pope nor his entourage are worried.”

Still Turkish authorities took massive security precautions for the Istanbul stop, with thousands of police on the street and roads cleared of all traffic for the papal motorcade.

The pope’s deepening ties with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I — called the “first among equals” of the Orthodox leaders — also is watched with suspicion in Turkey as a possible challenge to state-imposed limits on Christian minorities and others. Benedict has declared a “fundamental” commitment to try to heal rifts between the two ancient branches of Christianity, which split nearly 1,000 years ago over disputes including papal authority.

At Bartholemew’s walled compound in Istanbul, the pope stood amid black-robbed Orthodox clerics and urged both sides “to work for full unity of Catholics and Orthodox.”

The pope began the day at the ruins of a small stone home at the end of a dirt road near the Aegean Sea — the site where the Virgin Mary is thought to have spent her last years.

At an outdoor Mass attended by 250 invited guests, the pope noted the challenges facing the “little flock” of Christians in Turkey.

“I have wanted to convey my personal love and spiritual closeness, together with that of the universal church, to the Christian community here in Turkey, a small minority which faces many challenges and difficulties daily,” the pope said.

At times, he smiled and showed flashes of the pastoral flair of his predecessor, John Paul II, in one of the most intimate papal gatherings since John Paul’s trip to remote Mount Sinai during a trip to Egypt in 2000.

Benedict went on to honor the memory of a Catholic priest who was slain in Turkey amid Muslim anger over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of Muhammad.

“Let us sing joyfully, even when we’re tested by difficulties and dangers as we have learned from the fine witness given by the Rev. Andrea Santoro, whom I am pleased to recall in this celebration,” said Benedict, who later walked amid the crowd as they reached to touch his gold-and-white robes and cried “Viva il Papa” and “Benedetto,” his name in Italian.

In February, a Turkish teenager shot the Italian priest as he knelt in prayer in his church in the Black Sea port of Trabzon. The attack was believed to have been linked to outrage over the cartoons. Two other Catholic priests were attacked this year in Turkey, where Christians have often complained of discrimination and persecution.

On Tuesday, the pope urged religious leaders of all faiths to “utterly refuse” to support any form of violence in the name of faith. He also said religious freedom was an essential element of democratic values.

He sought a careful balance as he held out a hand of friendship and brotherhood to Muslims, and expressed support for measures that Turkey has taken in its campaign to join the European Union.

But winning over Turkish sentiments may be easy compared with the complexities ahead.

The legacy of Christianity in Turkey is a tangle of historical and religious sensitivities.

Turkish armies captured the Byzantine capital Constantinople — now Istanbul — in 1453 to begin a steady decline for Christians, who had maintained communities in Asia Minor since the time of the Apostles.

As the Ottoman Empire collapsed in the early 20th century, large numbers of Armenian Christians perished in mass expulsions and fighting. Turkey vehemently denies that it committed genocide against Armenians, though many nations have classified the World War I-era killings as such.

Later, in the 1920s, Turkey and Greece carried out a massive population exchange under the treaty that established modern Turkey, with hundreds of thousands of Greek Orthodox sent to Greece and smaller numbers of Muslims going the other way.

Bartholomew heads the remnants of the Greek community in Istanbul that now number no more than 2,000 among about 90,000 Christians in Turkey.

But they still represent a powerful symbolic presence for the world’s more than 250 million Orthodox, which often denounce Turkey for placing obstacles in the way of Bartholomew and his clerics.

Turkey refuses to acknowledge the “ecumenical,” or universal, title of the patriarch and instead considers him only the head of the local Greek Orthodox community. The Turkish worry is that granting wider status to the patriarch could undermine the idea of a single Turkish nationality — a pillar of the nation’s secular system — and inspire demands for special recognition by minorities including Kurds and Muslim groups such as Sufis and Alevis, considered a branch of Shiite Islam.

Now, Turkish officials are concerned the papal visit and support for Christian minorities could embolden Bartholomew to press Turkey for concessions, including return of confiscated property and the reopening of a Greek Orthodox seminary that closed more than two decades ago after authorities blocked new students. The EU has also pushed Turkey for greater religious openness to help its faltering bid for membership.

“Against the backdrop of universal peace, the yearning for full communion and concord between all Christians becomes even more profound and intense,” he said at the ancient Christian site.

Nestling on a mountain in woods between the ancient city of Ephesus and the town of Selcuk, near the Aegean coast, St. John the Apostle is believed to have brought the Virgin Mary to the house to care for her after Jesus’ death. Another belief maintains that the Virgin Mary died in Jerusalem.

The ruins of the house, whose earliest foundations date to the first century, have become a popular place of pilgrimage for both Muslims and Christians since the 1950s.

A chapel was built over the ruins, and some believe in the healing powers of both the chapel and waters flowing from a nearby spring.

Of Turkey’s 70 million people, some 65,000 are Armenian Orthodox Christians, 20,000 are Roman Catholic and 3,500 are Protestant, mostly converts from Islam. Another 23,000 are Jewish.

European Commission deals blow to Turkey’s EU ambitions

BRUSSELS (AFP) – The European Commission dealt a blow to Turkey’s EU membership ambitions, recommending a partial freezing of the talks process over Ankara’s hardline stance on Cyprus.

The commission urged that eight of the 35 policy chapters which all candidate nations must complete remain closed, a move which brought an angry reaction from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“The decision of the commission is unacceptable,” Erdogan told journalists in Riga, where he was attending a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit.

However EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told a press conference here that the measures were “firm but fair.”

“It is no train crash, no freeze, no hibernation, but yes it is a slowing down,” Rehn said after announcing the decision, which was unanimous among the 25 member states, but not before intense closed-door debate.

“Europe needs Turkey and Turkey needs Europe,” he added.

For months the EU had been threatening to recommend full or partial suspension of membership talks with Turkey over its refusal to open its ports to Cyprus under a customs agreement.

Ankara says the 25-nation bloc must first keep its 2004 promise to ease economic sanctions imposed on the island’s breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), recognized only by Turkey.

Cyprus expressed its unease over what it sees as a softly-softly approach by the European Union towards Turkey.

“For the Cyprus government the freezing of some chapters while Turkey, at the same time, continues its accession course as if nothing has happened, does not constitute a sanction,” government spokesman Christodoulos Pashardes told reporters in Nicosia.

The Commission recommended that the EU should “not open negotiations on chapters covering policy areas relevant to Turkey’s restrictions as regards the Republic of Cyprus, until the Commission confirms that Turkey has fulfilled its commitments.”

The EU’s executive arm also urged member states that while some of the chapters, such as those dealing with culture, education or monetary policy, could be opened soon, none should be formally closed until the Commission is happy with Turkey’s attitude to the divided island of Cyprus.

EU foreign ministers are expected to make a final decision on the matter, taking the Commission’s recommendations into account, when they meet here on December 11.

Otherwise the matter would fall into the lap of EU leaders at a summit on December 14-15. Most parties are keen to avoid a “Turkey summit,” as Rehn put it.

The difference of opinion among member states was instantly clear.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, also speaking in Latvia, warned that it would be a “serious mistake” to send a negative signal to Turkey over its EU membership.

“Just at the moment to send an adverse signal to Turkey I think would be a serious mistake,” he said.

However German chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the Commission’s recommendations.

“I think that the European Commission’s proposition is a strong signal,” Merkel told reporters in Riga.

Opponents of the Commission’s move argue that it will strengthen the hand of Turkish nationalists and fan the flames of growing anti-EU sentiment there.

All 35 policy areas, on the full gamut of subjects, must be satisfactorily dealt with before any candidate nation is considered for full EU membership. So far just one chapter has been opened and closed in Turkey’s case and there has been next to no movement in the process since June.

Finland, which is a supporter of Turkey’s EU membership, has been trying to resolve the stalemate since September with a proposal that included Turkey opening its ports and the EU trading directly with the self-proclaimed TRNC.

But Helsinki threw in the towel on Monday, saying there was no hope of an agreement during its EU presidency, which concludes on December 31.

The eight chapters which the EU’s executive arm is recommending be frozen are those on free movement of goods, the right of establishment and freedom to provide services, financial services, agriculture and rural development, fisheries, transport policy, customs union and external relations.

Turkey’s accession process is already expected to take at least a decade and no guarantees have been provided of its eventual success.

Pope to visit “Mary’s House” in Turkey

ANKARA (Reuters) – Pope Benedict, pursuing a journey of fence-mending with Islam and Turkey, on Wednesday pays tribute to one of Christianity’s most revered sites before heading to Istanbul, city at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.

During the first day of his delicate trip to the largely Muslim but officially secular country on Tuesday, Benedict quickly set to work trying to soothe still simmering rows over his positions on Islam and Turkey’s future role in Europe.

“It started beautifully: the Pope told the world from Ankara that Islam was a religion of peace,” top daily Hurriyet said.

Benedict’s comments so far appeared to go a long way toward making up for a speech in Germany in September when he quoted a Byzantine emperor who said Islam was violent and irrational. The speech infuriated Muslims worldwide.

Fears of large protests were unfounded, with only two small and peaceful demonstrations in Ankara. About 3,000 police were out on patrol to keep order, with snipers on buildings and armored personnel vehicles stationed on main intersections.

Well-wishers were absent on the capital’s main streets, an indication of the lack of interest in Benedict’s visit in a country where many still view the Pope with suspicion.

Turkey’s top Muslim leader, Ali Bardakoglu, spoke out against growing Islamophobia and the idea that Islam encouraged violence.

Newspaper Sabah said his speech was like a lesson to the Pope, who had been accused of failing to understand Islam.

In his speech at the same event, Benedict said Christians and Muslims must continue an open dialogue because they believe in the same God and agree on the meaning and purpose of life.

Benedict also appeared to do an about-face from his previous opposition to Ankara’s bid to join the European Union.

“MARY’S HOUSE”

On Wednesday the Pope is due to fly west to the Aegean town of Ephesus, where legend says the mother of Jesus Christ lived out the last years of her life. The stone “Mary’s House” was found in the late 19th century by archaeologists who based their searches on writings of German mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich.

The Pope will say mass at the small sanctuary, visited every year by tens of thousands of Christians and Muslims.

The Pope then goes to Istanbul, the modern name of the city once known as Constantinople, which was the capital of the Byzantine Empire for more than 1,000 years until it was conquered by Muslim forces in 1453 and became the Ottoman seat.

There, he will spend the last two days of the trip as the guest of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of the world’s 250 million Orthodox Christians.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters on Tuesday that in a private meeting at the airport, Benedict had told him he backed Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

“A surprise from the Pope: Benedict, who had opposed Turkey’s EU membership, spoke differently in Ankara,” said left-leaning newspaper Cumhuriyet said.

Asked to explain the Vatican’s precise position, spokesman Father Lombardi said it could not take any political stand but “encourages and views positively Turkey’s path of dialogue, rapprochement and participation in Europe based on common values and principles.”

Thousands protest Pope’s visit to Turkey

ISTANBUL (Reuters) 

More than 20,000 Muslims in Istanbul on Sunday staged the biggest protest so far against Pope Benedict’s trip to Turkey as Islamic opposition to this week’s controversial visit gathered momentum.

Benedict, due to begin his first official visit to a Muslim country next Tuesday, angered many Muslims in September with a speech they took as an insult to Islam.

Youths wearing headbands with Islamic scripts, beating drums and waving Turkish red and white flags chanted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) in the peaceful rally.

“I cannot remain silent when the Prophet Mohammad is insulted. I love him more than myself,” said Husamettin Aycan Alp, 25, a science student from Izmir in western Turkey.

He said Roman Catholic cardinals chose this pope last year “because he is against Islam and are concerned Islam is spreading in Europe.”

The four-day visit is billed as an opportunity to heal wounds with the Muslim world after the Pope quoted a Byzantine emperor saying Islam was violent and irrational. He has said he did not share that view.

Speaking in the Vatican on Sunday, Benedict said he wanted the visit to show his “esteem and sincere friendship” for Turkey and its people.

A visit to Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque was added to the Pope’s itinerary at the last minute, a move seen as an attempt at further reconciliation with the Muslim world.

His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, made the first visit by a pontiff to a mosque during a trip to Damascus in 2001. Pope John Paul paid the last papal visit to Turkey in 1979.

PROTEST AGAINST CRUSADERS

The Islamist Felicity party organising the protest under the banner “against the crusader alliance” — a reference to the crusaders who crossed Anatolia 1,000 years ago on their way to Jerusalem — had expected an attendance of at least 75,000.

“Muslims don’t want the Pope in their lands. Look at the suffering which they spread in Palestine, Iraq and Chechnya. I link this to Christianity,” said Ferdi Borekci, a 28-year-old architect.

Before becoming Pope, Benedict annoyed Turks by speaking out against Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, saying it did not belong there because of its religion and culture.

Turkey’s ruling AK Party government has kept a low profile in preparations for this visit, with talks still ongoing as to whether Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a pious Muslim, will meet him before heading off to a NATO summit in Riga.

With presidential and parliamentary elections due next year the AK Party, which has roots in political Islam, must balance a rise in nationalism as well as their support base among conservative Muslims.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, who will be absent during the Pope’s visit, played down the controversy.

“We hope this visit will help eliminate misunderstandings between Muslims and Christians,” Gul told a news conference.

“His message will be very important.”

Turkey plans tight security measures for the Pope, whose trip takes in the capital Ankara, Istanbul — formerly Constantinople — and the site where the Virgin Mary is believed to have lived and died near Izmir on the Aegean coast.

Finns in last ditch bid to resolve Cyprus Turkey row

BRUSSELS (Reuters/Reuters) - Finland launches a last-ditch drive this week to resolve a row between Turkey and Cyprus before a December deadline, but is warning it sees no speedy solution to the issue threatening Ankara’s EU entry bid.

were so slim he would not, offered a glimmer of hope for a breakthrough.

But Finland’s Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said he did not see a quick solution to Turkey opening its ports to ships from Cyprus as required in its EU membership negotiations.

“I have to say I am not very optimistic we could find a solution soon which would open new possibilities and literally open harbours,” he told Finnish public television on Saturday.

Finland, holder of the rotating EU presidency, has led diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute and wants a deal before a European Commission meeting on December 6.

It plans separate meetings with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Greek Cypriot George Lillikas on the sidelines of the gathering of European and Mediterranean ministers in Tampere.

Brussels has said it will recommend consequences if Turkey fails to open its ports in December, which could involve partial suspension of membership talks launched last year and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has previously warned of a “train crash” in Turkey’s accession bid if no deal is reached.

Tuomioja said he hoped there would not now be “a break” that would endanger Turkey’s bid, but added: “It is clear, however, if we make no progress, we cannot go on as if nothing happened.”

The Greek Cypriot government of Cyprus has represented the divided island since it joined the EU in 2004 and now has EU veto powers over its old Turkish foe.

MIDDLE EAST PLAN

Cyprus diplomacy could overshadow the Euro-Mediterranean meeting, although Spain is expected to outline a new Middle East peace initiative with France and Italy at a dinner with Arab and Israeli ministers on Monday.

Set up in 1995, the forum’s past efforts to foster Middle East peace have yielded meagre results, though a cease-fire that took effect on Sunday in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinians raised the possibility of some life being breathed into peacemaking in that region.

Lillikas’s announcement he would not go to Tampere came as Greek media reported that Finland had ditched a key Greek Cypriot demand from its mediation plan under Turkish pressure.

Greece warned that dropping the demand for Ankara to cede the abandoned resort of Varosha to U.N. control and for its former Greek Cypriot residents to be allowed back in might derail the Finnish efforts.

Dropping the proposal would put pressure back onto the Greek Cypriots to show flexibility or risk being seen as spoiler of a plan that Finland has kept secret, not circulated in writing.

Ankara has argued that before Turkey opens its ports, the European Union should first lift trade restrictions against a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north of Cyprus.

Commenting on Lillikas’s change of heart, Cyprus government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis said on Friday: “There is a particular reason,” but he declined to elaborate.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan affirmed on Friday Turkey’s support for a settlement benefiting all parties, including Greek Cypriots. “The object here is to achieve a win-win situation for everyone,” he said.

Gul told Reuters on Thursday Ankara was hopeful a Cyprus solution could be found but said any move to suspend Turkey’s EU talks would be dangerous and cost the EU a key strategic and economic partner.

Turkey has called the December 6 deadline on Cyprus blackmail but has also made clear it would not walk way from the talks, uncertainty over which has undermined Turkish financial markets.

On Friday, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi called for a balanced approach to overcoming difficulties over Turkey’s EU bid and said French President Jacques Chirac shared his view.

Confirmation that the Cypriot foreign minister would attend a regional forum in the Finnish city of Tampere starting on Monday, two days after saying the chances of progress .

were so slim he would not, offered a glimmer of hope for a breakthrough.

But Finland’s Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said he did not see a quick solution to Turkey opening its ports to ships from Cyprus as required in its EU membership negotiations.

“I have to say I am not very optimistic we could find a solution soon which would open new possibilities and literally open harbours,” he told Finnish public television on Saturday.

Finland, holder of the rotating EU presidency, has led diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute and wants a deal before a European Commission meeting on December 6.

It plans separate meetings with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Greek Cypriot George Lillikas on the sidelines of the gathering of European and Mediterranean ministers in Tampere.

Brussels has said it will recommend consequences if Turkey fails to open its ports in December, which could involve partial suspension of membership talks launched last year and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has previously warned of a “train crash” in Turkey’s accession bid if no deal is reached.

Tuomioja said he hoped there would not now be “a break” that would endanger Turkey’s bid, but added: “It is clear, however, if we make no progress, we cannot go on as if nothing happened.”

The Greek Cypriot government of Cyprus has represented the divided island since it joined the EU in 2004 and now has EU veto powers over its old Turkish foe.

MIDDLE EAST PLAN

Cyprus diplomacy could overshadow the Euro-Mediterranean meeting, although Spain is expected to outline a new Middle East peace initiative with France and Italy at a dinner with Arab and Israeli ministers on Monday.

Set up in 1995, the forum’s past efforts to foster Middle East peace have yielded meagre results, though a cease-fire that took effect on Sunday in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinians raised the possibility of some life being breathed into peacemaking in that region.

Lillikas’s announcement he would not go to Tampere came as Greek media reported that Finland had ditched a key Greek Cypriot demand from its mediation plan under Turkish pressure.

Greece warned that dropping the demand for Ankara to cede the abandoned resort of Varosha to U.N. control and for its former Greek Cypriot residents to be allowed back in might derail the Finnish efforts.

Dropping the proposal would put pressure back onto the Greek Cypriots to show flexibility or risk being seen as spoiler of a plan that Finland has kept secret, not circulated in writing.

Ankara has argued that before Turkey opens its ports, the European Union should first lift trade restrictions against a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north of Cyprus.

Commenting on Lillikas’s change of heart, Cyprus government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis said on Friday: “There is a particular reason,” but he declined to elaborate.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan affirmed on Friday Turkey’s support for a settlement benefiting all parties, including Greek Cypriots. “The object here is to achieve a win-win situation for everyone,” he said.

Gul told Reuters on Thursday Ankara was hopeful a Cyprus solution could be found but said any move to suspend Turkey’s EU talks would be dangerous and cost the EU a key strategic and economic partner.

Turkey has called the December 6 deadline on Cyprus blackmail but has also made clear it would not walk way from the talks, uncertainty over which has undermined Turkish financial markets.

On Friday, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi called for a balanced approach to overcoming difficulties over Turkey’s EU bid and said French President Jacques Chirac shared his view.