27 November 2006
Around 20,000 demonstrators waving Turkish flags and chanting staged a defiant rally in Istanbul on 26 November in protest at Pope Benedict's scheduled arrival in the country on 28 November. The head of the Catholic Church is set to defy death threats and security fears to visit Ankara, Ephesus and Istanbul on a four-day trip to Turkey intended to bring the Catholic and Orthodox churches closer together and to foster dialogue between Christians and Muslims. But many Muslims are still angry at the Pope's speech at Regensburg University in September when he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor who claimed Muslims were "evil and inhumane''. The Turkish splinter party Saadet, which is not represented in parliament, organized the rally. Although Saadet claimed one million people would take to the streets, and laid on 2,000 coaches, the numbers were far smaller. A crowd of mostly young Islamists and Turkish nationalists waved banners against the "sly'' Pope and demanded an end to the "Crusader Alliance''.
The Pope used his Sunday address at the Vatican to call for calm. "I want to express my sentiments of esteem and sincere friendship,'' he said. In a reference to the perilous security of the trip, the Pope added: "I invoke the celestial protection of John XXIII, who was the apostolic delegate in Turkey for 10 years and nurtured affection and estimation for that nation. I ask you all to accompany me in prayer that this pilgrimage can bring all the fruits which God desires.'' The Vatican announced the Pope would "follow in the footsteps of John Paul's and visit the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Benedict will be the second Pope to enter a mosque, after John Paul II's visit to Damascus in 2001. Turkish security forces have been put on high alert for the trip. Cardinal Walter Kasper, a close ally of the Pope, will be given his own security team after reports that he has become a secondary target.
