VATICAN: POPE’S VISIT TO TURKEY TAKES SHAPE
AKI, Italy
Sep-19-2006 09:04 am
Istanbul, 18 Sept. (AKI) – As Benedict XVI’s controversial remarks
linking Islam and violence continue to reverberate around the Muslim
world, his planned three-day visit to Turkey at the end of November
has begun to take shape. The schedule of the visit is not yet clear,
but the pope’s fist meeting is expected to be with Turkey’s president,
Ahmet Necdet Sezer – who invited him to visit.
During the 28-30 November visit – his first to the overwhelmingly
Muslim country since becoming pope in April last year – the pontiff
is also expected to visit the site of Virgin Mary’s alleged tomb
at Ephesus, near the western coastal city of Izmir. From there he
will travel to Istanbul to attend on 30 November the Saint Andres
feast in the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Church and to meet with the
Orthodox patriarch Bartholomeos and Armenian patriarch, Mesrob II –
the two leaders of Turkey’s Christian community.
It is not yet clear whether the Pope will meet with the head of
the Turkish Religious Directorate, (the country’s highest religious
institution), Ali Bardakoglu. Directorate officials are allegedly
saying that if a ‘religious’ meeting is scheduled to be held
during Benedict XVI’s visit, it should take place in the Religious
Directorate’s headquarters in Ankara. If the meeting is deemed a
‘political’ one however, the Religious Directorate officials will
not attend.
Muslims (mostly Sunnis) form an estimated 99.8 percent of Turkey’s 70
million population, while Christians and Jews account for 0.2 percent.