Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday night sought to dispel a quickly earned reputation for Islamophobia, calling for a new process of “authentic dialogue” between Christians and Muslims based on “mutual esteem and respect”. For the first time in his papacy, he also expressed support for Turkey in its flagging efforts to join the European Union.
Arriving in Turkey on the first day of his first visit to a Muslim country, a trip overshadowed by incendiary remarks he made about Islam and the prophet Mohammed 10 weeks ago, Benedict embarked on a damage limitation exercise.
He declined to apologise for the speech he made in Bavaria in September in which he quoted a description of Islam as “evil and inhuman”. But speaking in English in Ankara on Tuesday night, he lavished praise on Turkey and the “remarkable flowering of Islamic civilisation in the most diverse fields” in Turkey.
“Christians and Muslims belong to the family of those who believe in the one God,” Benedict said at a meeting with Ali Bardokoglu, the senior Muslim cleric who is the government official responsible for religion and who fiercely criticised the Pope in September. “Christians and Muslims point to the truth of the sacred character and dignity of the person. This is the basis of our mutual respect and esteem, this is the basis for cooperation.”
Amid what is probably the biggest and tightest security arrangements yet mounted in Turkey, the 79-year-old pontiff also successfully carried off a potentially problematic meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was the first man to shake the Pope’s hand in Turkey despite having refused to meet him until the last minute.
Erdogan indicated that his half-hour encounter with Benedict at Ankara airport constituted a meeting of minds. The emphasis was on an “alliance” rather than on a “clash” of civilisations, said the prime minister, adding that the Pope characterised Islam as a religion of “peace, tolerance, and affection”.
A day after Turkey’s negotiations to join the EU turned critical with the collapse of mediation in Finland over Cyprus, Erdogan said Benedict had voiced support for Turkey’s EU bid.
An apparent U-turn in the Vatican position was confirmed by the papal spokesperson, who said the Vatican did not have the political authority to get involved with Turkey’s EU aims. “However, [the Vatican] views positively and encourages the path of dialogue, of Turkey’s getting closer to and entering Europe on the basis of common values and principles,” said Father Federico Lombardi.
This represented the most pro-Turkish statement from the Vatican since Benedict became Pope last year. Previously, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he had declared that Turkey was a “permanent contrast” to Europe and destined to remain a Middle Eastern country.
Hostility towards the pope has been raging in Turkey for weeks, as elsewhere in the Muslim world. But protests on Tuesday were minimal, comprising around 100 Muslim activists and Turkish nationalists in the centre of Ankara. Shoulders hunched and occasionally appearing slightly startled, the pope trod carefully through the minefield of his first foray into the Muslim world.
“The visit of the pope to a secular democracy that is 95% Muslim is crucially important,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan had earlier declared he would not arrange his schedule to suit the pope and faced criticism for being ready to snub the pontiff. But on Tuesday he called on Turkey to welcome him, and dismissed protesters as “marginal”.
In September the pope stirred outrage among Muslims by quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor in Istanbul telling a Persian intellectual of the evil and inhumanity spawned by Islam.
In what appeared to be an echo but with the opposite message, Benedict on Tuesday night cited 11th century Pope Gregory VII, telling a “Muslim prince in North Africa of the particular charity that Christians and Muslims owe to one another”. This was “an illustration of the fraternal respect with which Christians and Muslims can work together”.
Benedict’s visit lasts another three days. – Guardian Unlimited Â