POPE BENEDICT’S TRIP TO TURKEY ON TRACK.
Wanted in Rome, Italy
Oct 4 2006
Preparations for Pope Benedict XVI’s first visit to Turkey at the
end of November are going ahead despite a series of security issues,
according to Vatican authorities. On 3 October, the Turkish press
printed a message from Al Qaeda threatening any Muslims who play host
to the pope in Turkey, including state authorities. On the same day,
a Turkish national flying from Tirana in Albania to Istanbul hijacked
the plane and demanded that it land in Italy so he could deliver a
letter to the pope, sparking fears of a terrorist attack. After the
plane landed safely in Brindisi, the man was found to be unarmed and
is thought to have been trying to enlist the pope’s help to avoid
national service in Turkey. A Christian convert, the man said he did
not want to fight in a Muslim army.
The incidents follow the pope’s speech at the university of Regensburg
on a trip to Bavaria on 12 September in which he quoted a 14th-century
orthodox Christian emperor saying the prophet Muhammed had brought the
world only "evil and inhuman" things, causing widespread outrage across
the Muslim world. The pope subsequently apologized for the upset.
The last pope, John Paul II, was shot four times on 13 May 1981 by
a Turkish national in St Peter’s Square. His would-be assassin, Ali
Agca, has warned the current pope not to make the trip to Turkey,
which is currently scheduled from 28 November until 1 December.
Turkey’s population is 98 per cent Muslim, with a 100,000-strong
Christian community as well as orthodox Armenians and Jews making up
the remaining two per cent. Membership negotiations with the country’s
government for entry into the European Union began in October 2005.
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
