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Pope Francis is in Turkey on a three-day trip aimed at promoting religious dialogue, only the fourth visit by a pope to the Muslim-majority nation. In a speech in Ankara he said such a dialogue could "deepen the understanding and appreciation of the many things which we hold in common".New mosques are flourishing, while the world-famous Halki Orthodox Christian theological school near Istanbul has remained closed since 1971 under Turkish nationalist pressure. One of the remaining Greeks of Turkey, Fotis Benlisoy, says the community feels squeezed: "The threatening feeling for non-Muslim minorities here is coming again." Vatican officials say religious tolerance will be high on the agenda when the Pope meets President Erdogan - whose AK Party is rooted in political Islam - and Mehmet Gormez, Turkey's top cleric. In Istanbul, Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Istanbul's Sultan Ahmed mosque, the 17th-Century place of worship popularly known as the Blue Mosque. He is also due to sign a joint declaration with Patriarch Bartholomew I, the leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians, on trying to bridge the divides between Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity. Other papers take a more neutral tone and talk about his agenda, with some anticipation about the Pope being the first visitor to the new "presidential palace". Hurriyet speculates that President Erdogan's message to the Pope might be: "Let's stop Islamophobia". |
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