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[ December 2006 ]

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ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS:

ACTION PLAN TO IMPROVE CROSS CULTURAL RELATIONS -

THE REPORT OF THE HIGH-LEVEL GROUP

In order to de-escalate extremism, it is necessary to correct misinformation and encourage constructive action.

The Report of the High-level Group was presented to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to Prime Ministers José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 13 November 2006 at the final meeting of the High-level Group in Istanbul, Turkey

Follow this link to download the Report:  www.unaoc.org 

To advance the Alliance of Civilizations, the UN Secretary-General established a High-level Group of eminent personalities and tasked this Group with generating a report containing an analysis of the rise in cross-cultural polarization and extremism and a set of practical recommendations to counter this phenomenon. The High-level Group met five times from November 2005 to November 2006, at the conclusion of which it produced a report which takes a multi-polar approach within which it prioritizes relations between Muslim and Western societies.

The report is structured in two parts: Part I presents an analysis of the global context and of the state of relations between Muslim and Western societies. It concludes with a set of policy recommendations, indicating the High-level Group's belief that certain political steps are pre-requisites to any substantial and lasting improvement in relations between Muslim and Western societies. Part II of the report reflects the High-level Group's view that tensions across cultures have spread beyond the political level into the hearts and minds of populations. To counter this trend, the Group analyzes and presents recommendations in each of four thematic areas: Education, Youth, Migration, and Media. The Report concludes with the High-level Group's suggestions for the implementation of its recommendations.

For news on High-level Group meeting in Istanbul, Turkey:

Hispano-Turco.com [ Dialogue of Civilizations Update November 2006 ]


The Alliance of Civilizations

The Secretary-General of the United Nations has launched an initiative, co-sponsored by the Prime Ministers of Spain and Turkey, for an Alliance of Civilizations.

The initiative responds to a broad consensus across nations, cultures and religions that all societies are interdependent, bound together in their development and security, and in their environmental, economic and financial well-being.

The Alliance seeks to forge collective political will and to mobilize concerted action at the institutional and civil society levels to overcome the prejudice, misperceptions and polarization that militate against such a consensus. And it hopes to contribute to a coalescing global movement which, reflecting the will of the vast majority of people, rejects extremism in any society.

Events of recent years have exacerbated mutual suspicion, fear and misunderstanding between Islamic and Western societies. This environment has been exploited by extremists throughout the world.

Only a comprehensive coalition will be able to avert any further deterioration of relations between societies and nations, which could threaten international stability. The Alliance seeks to counter this trend by establishing a paradigm of mutual respect between civilizations and cultures.

To guide this initiative, the Secretary-General, in consultation with the co-sponsors, has established a High-level Group (HLG) of eminent persons.


Turkey, Spain seek to bring up Alliance of Civilizations at NATO summit

As part of efforts to bridge differences between cultures and civilizations, Turkey and Spain are exerting efforts to add the Alliance of Civilization issue to the agenda of the NATO summit to be held next week in Riga.

Turkey and Spain presented a motion for touching on the Alliance of Civilizations Project in the reports of the NATO summit which will be released following the meetings.

A Spanish government spokesperson said that negotiations about the subject are still continuing, adding that there is no problem in the NATO summit report possibly reflecting support to Alliance of Civilizations initiative.

But diplomatic sources denied the remarks of the Spanish spokesperson, saying that Alliance of Civilizations initiative won't be on the agenda of NATO. Sources also said that the initiative will be referred under one of the sub-reports covering terrorism.

In related news, Spanish daily ABC said on Friday that the Alliance of Civilizations initiative will be taken into consideration during the NATO summit. The daily stated that NATO leaders don't feel special interest in the initiative, but will express their support for it in NATO documents.

ABHaber 26.11.2006 thenewanatolian www.abhaber.com 


Erdogan calls on pope to back 'alliance of civilizations'

ROME - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan has urged Pope Benedict XVI to back the "Alliance of Civilizations" between the West and the Muslim world launched in 2004 by Ankara and Madrid.

"The pope, who is both a politician and a religious figure, can play an important role in replacing a climate of war with a climate of peace," Erdogan said over Italian television late Thursday.

Erdogan, who will not be in Ankara during the pope's visit next week, said his "only message" for Benedict was "to support the Turko-Spanish initiative of an 'Alliance of Civilizations' as an alternative to the clash of civilizations."

The initiative, launched at the United Nations in September 2004, is designed to join Western and Muslim states to fight radical Islam.

It calls on institutions and civil society to overcome prejudices and misunderstandings between peoples of different cultures and religions.

Erdogan, the head of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party, which has Islamist roots, reiterated his stance on the pope's remarks in September viewed by Muslims as linking Islam to violence.

"We have never allowed ourselves to insult the prophets of other religions," he said. "Our faith even orders us to respect them. Thus we have the right to expect the same treatment from members of other religions."

Erdogan will be unable to meet the head of the Roman Catholic Church during his November 28-December 1 visit because he will be at the NATO summit in Riga, Latvia.

"We cannot neglect the Atlantic Alliance because the pope is coming to Turkey," he said.

11/24/2006 14:32 GMT  www.turkishpress.com 


Pope Benedict XVI leaving the Atatürk Mausoleum in Ankara, Tuesday. ((AP Photo/Dimitri Messinis))

Pope supports EU membership, Turkish leader says

Associated Press - International Herald Tribune Nov. 28, 2006 www.iht.com 

ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey's prime minister said Tuesday that Pope Benedict XVI told him he wanted Turkey to join the European Union. The Vatican said only that it views as favorable the steps that Turkey is taking to meet EU membership requirements.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted Benedict when he arrived in the Turkish capital on a flight from Rome, and the two men had a private discussion at the airport. Erdogan, whose Muslim country is engaged in a troubled bid to join the EU, later told reporters:

"I said to the pope, 'I ask for your help on the way to the European Union,' and on this subject he said, 'You know we are not politicians, but we hope Turkey enters the European Union.'"

Asked about Erdogan's remark, a senior Vatican official said the Vatican favors the steps Turkey is taking to meet EU membership requirements. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, noting that the Vatican is not a "political entity."

In a statement, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said:

"The Holy See has neither the power nor the specific political task of intervening on the exact point regarding the entry of Turkey into the European Union. It's not in its scope. However, it views positively and encourages the road of dialogue and of moving toward integration in Europe on the basis of common values and principles."

As a cardinal, before he became pope, Benedict said Turkey represented a culture "in permanent contrast to Europe" and has repeatedly called for a return in Europe to fundamental Christian values.

At a press conference earlier Tuesday, a representative of the Vatican noted that Benedict's earlier remarks were made before he became pope.

"When a man becomes the pope ... it's in a sense expected that his personal views recede into the background," Bishop Brian Farrell said.

He said the Vatican was not a member of the European Union and had no official stance on Turkey's membership bid.

The pope's perceived opposition to Turkey's EU bid fueled Turkish criticism of Benedict, whose visit to Turkey is his first to a Muslim nation.

Turkey has conducted economic and other reforms in an effort to join the EU, but a dispute over divided Cyprus and other issues threatens to derail its campaign.


Pope Agrees Islam is Religion of Peace
By Cihan News Agency
Tuesday, November 28, 2006  zaman.com

"I told the pope that Islam was a religion of peace and tolerance and he shared the same ideas," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a press briefing after meeting Pope Benedict XVI at Ankara airport.

Erdogan and the pope talked for about 25 minutes at Esenboga Airport in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Erdogan gave a statement on his meeting with the pope just before his departure for Riga, Latvia to attend a NATO summit.

He said that the short meeting was about the Alliance of Civilizations and the interfaith dialogue.

Erdogan stated that the pope's visit to a predominantly Muslim country was very important and right on time with the declaration of the Alliance of Civilizations initiative, which Erdogan co-chairs with his Spanish counterpart Zapatero.

Saying that the government did its best to welcome the pontiff in a hospitable manner, Erdogan expressed his wishes that the visit would be fruitful for world peace.

Asked about the pope's attitude on Turkey's EU membership, Erdogan replied: "I said that I expected his support on membership and the pope responded, ’We are not politicians but would like Turkey to join the EU.’"

For further information please visit http://www.cihannews.com


Open Letter to Pope Benedict XVI by Muslim Scholars and Leaders (2006-10-12)

In an unprecedented move, an open letter signed by 38 leading Muslim religious scholars and leaders around the world was sent to Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 12, 2006. The letter, which is the outcome of a joint effort in a spirit of goodwill, to respond to some of the remarks made by the Pope during his lecture at the University of Regensburg on Sept. 12, 2006. It was signed by top religious authorities and all the eight schools of thought and jurisprudence in Islam are represented by the signatories, including a woman scholar. In this respect the letter is unique in the history of interfaith relations.


Christian divisions cloud Pope's talks

 

By Jan Repa
BBC Europe analyst  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6192814.stm 

Patriarch Bartholomew
The Pope's meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew will be keenly watched

Pope Benedict XVI, spiritual leader of the world's Catholics, is to meet Patriarch Bartholomew - "first among equals" of the leaders of the Orthodox Christian churches - in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

The Pope's visit to overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey has already provoked controversy - with some nationalist and Islamist groups insisting he is not welcome.

However, the Catholic-Orthodox relationship has also been fraught with difficulty, even before the two churches split nearly 1,000 years ago.

On the same day as he meets Patriarch Bartholomew, Benedict XVI will also visit one of the world's architectural marvels.

Built nearly 1,500 years ago by the East Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justinian, it was known as the Haghia Sofia - or Church of Holy Wisdom.

 

A lost symbol

Converted into a mosque by the conquering Turks in 1453, it became a museum in the 1920s.

For many Orthodox Christians, it remains the lost symbol of their faith.

Some Muslim groups would like it to be a mosque once more.

If Benedict XVI offers a prayer here, the result could be religious dynamite.

 

Turkish policemen gather in front of the Haghia Sophia museum in Istanbul on 27 November
Pope Benedict's visit to the Haghia Sophia will be closely watched

The history of Istanbul - once known as Constantinople - exemplifies the clash of religions, politics and brute power.

Catholicism and Orthodoxy were once twin aspects of the same officially approved version of Christianity, established under the Roman Empire after its conversion in the 4th Century.

Catholicism was dominant in the "Latin" West; Orthodoxy in the Greek-speaking East.

Over the centuries, political, cultural and theological differences widened to the point where the two Churches formally split in 1054.

In 1204, Catholic Crusaders sacked Constantinople.

 

Reconciliation

Though roundly condemned by the Pope of the day, the sack is still seen by many Orthodox as an act of "Latin treachery" - and continues to mobilise anti-Catholic sentiment in traditionally Orthodox countries like Greece and Russia.

It took until 1964 for a Pope, Paul VI, to meet an Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras, on neutral ground, in Jerusalem.

Recent Popes and Patriarchs have pledged to work for reconciliation and greater unity.

But significant obstacles remain.

One is the status of the Pope - seen by Catholics as the final arbiter of theological and moral truth.

For the Orthodox churches, such authority derives from the first Seven Councils of the Church - the last of which occurred in 787 AD - whose rulings cannot be altered or added to.

 

Unfair treatment

Other differences concern issues like the nature of Holy Trinity; the relationship between science and Faith; whether God can ever be fully understood; or the existence - or otherwise - of Purgatory.

There are also tensions between the various Orthodox churches - with some, like the Russian Orthodox Church, traditionally vying for the "number one" position; and some suggesting that the Patriarch of Constantinople may be too keen on his links with Rome.

One subject which may well come up during Benedict XVI's trip to Turkey is the allegation that Christians are not treated fairly.

In the 1920s, when the Turkish Republic was established on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, there were 200,000 Orthodox ethnic Greeks in Istanbul.

Today there are 5000.

Istanbul's Orthodox Christian school of theology was closed by the authorities in 1971 - and remains so, despite appeals from the European Union.

 


Orthodoxy, not Islam, draws pope to Turkey

By David O'Reilly www.philly.com 
Inquirer Staff Writer Tue, Nov. 28, 2006

While much of the world wonders whether Pope Benedict XVI will be met with violent Muslim demonstrations - or worse - when he visits Istanbul this week, it is Catholic relations with Orthodoxy, not Islam, that bring the pontiff to Turkey.

Muslims worldwide are still incensed by remarks Benedict made in September, when he linked Islam with violence and in the eyes of many insulted the prophet Muhammad.

Some don't want him to come at all; others are hoping for some words or signs that might repair the damage and restore Catholic-Islamic relations to the warmer days they knew under Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

But unlike John Paul - who once kissed a copy of the Koran - Benedict is not a man of grand, theatrical gestures.

And, regardless of what assurances of respect and admiration for the Muslim world the pontiff might issue this week, the core of his visit will be a Thursday meeting with Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and spiritual leader of the world's 270 million Orthodox Christians.

While Westerners tend to think of ecumenism as rapprochement between Catholics and Protestants, Benedict "sees the greatest commonality and hope for ecumenism as with the Orthodox, not the Protestants," said Benedict's biographer David Gibson.

"He sees little theological difference [between Catholicism and Orthodoxy], and he identifies very much with that Orthodoxy's dynamism, its polity, its liturgy, and the fact that it speaks one of the original languages of the church," said Gibson, whose book, The Rule of Benedict, came out in September.

Catholic author and columnist George Weigel, who wrote the definitive biography of John Paul II, agreed. "This is not about the pope's visiting an Islamic country," he said yesterday. "The pope is visiting the patriarch."

Both Benedict and Bartholomew are committed to resolving the bitter theological differences that have split their ancient churches for more than 1,000 years.

No major breakthrough is anticipated, but the two are expected to sign a proclamation of affection between Catholicism and Orthodoxy at the close of their meeting, according to the Rev. Dr. Frank Marangos, executive director for communications for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

"This is not a public-relations ploy or means to a political end," Marangos said in a phone interview from Istanbul. "The real intent of this trip, which was planned a year ago, was for the pope to visit the patriarchate and participate in prayer."

Weigel said he nevertheless expected the meeting to be eclipsed in news reports by any demonstrations, violence, or papal gestures to Islam.

In September, the pontiff incensed much of the Muslim world when, in a lecture to German theologians at Regensburg University, he warned against the demise of religious reason.

Most of his Regensburg remarks were directed at the collapse of Christianity in Europe, but he also pointed to Islamic jihadism, and quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who called Islam "evil and inhuman."

Those remarks so incensed Muslims that Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan originally said his schedule would not permit him to meet with Benedict during this trip; yesterday, he agreed to greet him at Ankara's airport before departing for the NATO summit in Latvia.

Erdogan's reluctance to spend time with Benedict might also be based on concern that the pope will call attention to Turkey's repression of non-Islamic faiths, which has slowed its efforts to join the European Union.

While Turkey is officially secular, the government recently closed the nation's only Orthodox seminary and restricts public worship by non-Muslims.

Weigel said he hoped Benedict does not apologize for his September remarks and instead "lifts up for the attention of the world the very difficult circumstances in which the patriarchate is obliged to operate in Turkey."

But Ali Khan, executive director of the Islamic Council of America, said in a phone interview yesterday from Chicago that he had "great expectations" the pope would make a "significant gesture" toward the Muslim world.

"I think the [Muslim] reaction to his remarks was extreme," Khan said. But, he added - perhaps more hopefully than accurately - the comments "did not do permanent damage."

"He has not been pope for very long," Khan said. "If he admits he made a mistake, let's move on."


Pope-Islam dialogue needs to continue

November 28, 2006  www.suntimes.com 

BY JOHN O SULLIVAN
If nothing untoward has happened, Pope Benedict XVI should be sitting down to a relaxing dinner in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, after a hectic first day of an important trip, about the time you are reading this column. The highlight of this first day was a visit to the impressive Mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey and the architect of its secular constitution and Westernized institutions.

Benedict's paying of respects to Ataturk was one strand of his attempt to soothe Islamic opposition to his visit. Both the pope and the Turkish government have spent the last few days exchanging expressions of goodwill and mutual respect.

Everyone is seeking to lower the emotional temperature -- with the characteristic exception of the European Union, which has chosen the eve of the pope's visit to announce that Turkey will not be admitted to the EU unless it opens its ports to Greek Cyprus. If the extraordinary security precautions put in place by the Turks for Benedict's protection have to be activated today, Brussels will share a large dollop of the blame.

But as he stood before the tomb of Ataturk today, the pope might have reflected on how well and badly he dealt with religion and politics. In his day Ataturk gave far more offense to pious Muslims than Benedict has done.

As part of his attempt to exclude Islam from a newly secular public life, Ataturk banned the public wearing of Islamic headgear, namely the fez. And as late as 1930 he executed 12 people for defying the ban on the fez.

Turks accepted the exclusion of Islam from public life -- and many other reforms -- because Ataturk was a national hero who had saved Turkey from invasion and defeat after World War I. An entire Kemalist political establishment has governed Turkey and kept it a secular democracy ever since. Turkey is a NATO ally, a growing economy and a bastion of genuine stability in the region.

But most Turks (about 98 percent) are Muslim, and a large number want Islam to be given greater public recognition and expression. Their women wear the headscarf as a political-cum-religious gesture as once their men wore the fez.

Moderate Islamists support the governing Justice and Development party; radical ones smaller parties. The Turkish armed forces, who see themselves as the ultimate guardian of Ataturk's secular constitution, hold both groups in suspicion. And there are periodic rumors of a military coup to prevent ''creeping Islamicization.''

Much of the furor surrounding Pope Benedict's visit is really a safe and coded way of expressing these tensions. His remarks on Christianity, Islam and Reason in his Regensburg lecture have been distorted by the radical Islamists as an attack on Islam in order to embarrass both their moderate rivals and the Turkish armed forces -- and to whip up support for themselves. The pope is an almost innocent bystander, but one who might get caught in the crossfire.

The obvious way forward is to make some concessions to the moderate Islamists -- allowing greater public expression of Islam -- but in a larger context of entrenching a secular constitution that embodies freedom of religion and free speech. Turkish membership of the European Union would make such a compromise both possible and permanent. To their credit, the governing moderate Islamists have pushed strongly for such an outcome. If Turkey is excluded (and inevitably angered by its exclusion), the likelihood is that over time some form of Islamism is going to overpower the remnants of Kemalist secularism.

That, however, is a secondary question for both Europe and the pope. Whether or not Turkey enters the EU, the West is going to have to decide how to handle Islam and the millions of Muslims in its midst. A first step must be to separate out the radical Islamists from the great body of Muslims.

Even if we succeed in isolating and defeating radical Islamists, however, we will still face a problem: Islam is a strong faith that is uncomfortable both with a secular state and with full religious liberty. (So was Catholicism in our recent history.) Kemalism has shown that it cannot be permanently suppressed. The Turkish jury is still out on whether an unreformed Islam can be politically accommodated in a secular state. So the last question is whether Islam can come to terms with liberty and secularism at a deeper religious level.

That was the question raised in the pope's speech at Regensburg. He then asked Muslims to abandon any interpretation of jihad as a legitimate war against other religions and to re-examine their view of the proper relationship between God and Reason. Given that the Christian God appeals to reason, He rejects forced conversions, holy wars and the murder of apostates. That understanding has not always marked the history of Christianity, but it describes the Church of today.

Benedict was inviting Muslims to consider whether their own faith might not benefit from a similar re-examination. His words were misunderstood as hostile and evoked a hostile reaction. But unless the pope and other Christian leaders can freely raise such questions with leading Muslim clerics without inviting either the murder of nuns or threats of assassination, then we will be faced with long and needless conflict.

It is time for some Muslim Benedicts to step forward and continue the dialogue.


Pope Backs Turkey’s Bid to Join Europe

By IAN FISHER and SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: November 28, 2006  www.nytimes.com 

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 28 — Pope Benedict XVI came to Turkey on Tuesday carrying a surprise gesture of goodwill aimed at blunting Muslim anger toward him: he blessed Turkey’s long-stalled desire to join the European Union, reversing his position of two years ago.

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Dario Pignatelli/Polaris

Pope Benedict XVI visits the Ataturk Mausoleum during the first day of his pastoral trip to Turkey.

(November 28, 2006)

 
Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP -- Getty Images

The pope visited the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the secular republic that Turkey is steadily shifting away from.

Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told reporters after a brief meeting with Benedict at the airport here that he had asked the pope to support Turkey in its attempts to become a member of the European Union.

“He said, ‘You know we don’t have a political role, but we wish for Turkey’s entry into the E.U.,’ ” Mr. Erdogan said the pope told him. “His wish is a positive recommendation for us.”

Although the Vatican does not play a formal role in the European Union, the pope’s gesture was nonetheless a piece of political stagecraft at a delicate time both in relations between Muslims and the West and in Benedict’s own damaged reputation among Muslims.

Long before he angered the Muslim world two months ago with a speech criticized as equating Islam with violence, Benedict was disliked here because of comments he made, as a cardinal in 2004, opposing Turkey’s membership in the European Union. As the successor to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey had always stood, he said at the time, “in permanent contrast to Europe.”

But the 79-year-old pope’s concession on Tuesday, at the start of a four-day trip here, seemed to make good on his pledge to heal the wounds between East and West. It may also have the practical effect of tamping down anger here, which led to thick security on Tuesday, with helicopters hovering at the airport, commandoes guarding the pope’s plane and sharpshooters on the roofs of buildings.

It is unclear what effect the pope’s reversal will have on the fraught debate in Western Europe over Turkey’s membership, especially among conservatives who shared the views he expressed as a cardinal two years ago. Much of that opposition is rooted in the increased tension between the West and Islam, including fears of more terrorist attacks in Europe and the already difficult integration of millions of Muslims into Europe.

Some of the problems, though, are tied to the difficulty Turkey has had meeting specific demands of Europe to join the union — and the pope’s visit comes at a particularly sensitive time in Turkey’s talks with European negotiators.

Admission talks, which began this year, have hit a snag over the insistence, by the European Union, that Turkey open its ports and harbors to vessels from Greek Cyprus, an internationally recognized state opposed by Turkey. But officials in Turkey say they cannot do that until an international embargo that has been in place on the Turkish part of the island for more than 20 years is lifted.

Since Benedict did not make any announcement himself, it appeared to some degree a concession won by Mr. Erdogan, in a deft act of diplomacy that many critics said the pope’s speech two months ago lacked. Mr. Erdogan’s government is rooted in a moderate political Islam and, until Monday, he had said he would not be able to meet the pope on this visit. As the leader of the only Muslim country in NATO, he left immediately after to attend a meeting of the Western military alliance in Latvia.

Whatever the pope’s intent, his gesture did appear to achieve a political result in Turkey, where residents interviewed Tuesday said they saw it as a victory for Mr. Erdogan.

Hours later, the pope’s spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, released a brief statement repeating that the Vatican has “neither the power nor the specific political task” of gaining Turkey admission to the E.U., in a time of apparently growing opposition to it in Europe.

But Father Lombardi said that the Vatican “views positively and encourages the road of dialogue and of moving toward integration of Turkey in Europe on the basis of common values and principles.”

In Ankara, residents expressed doubts about the pope’s sincerity, and it remains to be seen whether the pope’s gesture will have a warming effect in Turkey, or in the broader Muslim world.

“It’s not support, it’s a lie,” said Hakan Ozgunaydin, a 29-year-old co-owner of an upscale shoe and belt shop in downtown Ankara. “I would expect him to say, ‘those bloody Turks,’ when he leaves this country.”

Merve Celikkol, a 21-year-old physics student, was just as blunt, calling the pope a hypocrite: “How is it possible that he changed so much?”

A number of those interviewed did say they thought the new support was a decisive win for Mr. Erdogan, who has led the push for entry into Europe, at no small political cost to himself.

“This can be his way of confessing his sins for the wrong he has done to the Muslim world,” said Ismail Aytac, a 51-year-old sitting in a luxury watch shop. “After all, he’s human, and humans make mistakes.”

The trip here marks Benedict’s fifth outside Italy since he was elected pope last year, and his first outside the European Union and to a predominantly Muslim country. His main aim in this trip is to visit leaders of the Orthodox patriarchy here, as part of Benedict’s goal to mend the 1,000-year rift between the Roman church and the 220 million Orthodox.

But Christians make up less than half a percent of Turkey’s 72 million people, and as such it was clear this trip would be far different from those to Christian countries, even before he quoted a Byzantine emperor as referring to Islam as “evil and inhuman” in a speech in September in Germany. The trip to Turkey, though a modern and secular democracy, seemed particularly fraught with symbolism: Here Christian and Muslim warriors battled for centuries, as the Byzantine empire founded by Rome’s first Christian emperor gave way to Muslim Ottoman Turks who established their own empire and pushed deep into Europe.

Vincenzo Pinto/AFP — Getty Images

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, right, met with Pope Benedict XVI upon the pope’s arrival at the airport in Ankara today.

(November 28, 2006)

Tolga Adanali/AFP — Getty Images

Pope Benedict XVI and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey at their meeting today. Mr. Erdogan said after the meeting that Benedict told him he supported Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

A pedestrian street in Istanbul, where women in miniskirts and head scarves mingle. Turkey’s traditional secularism is under pressure.

After his plane touched down, the white-robed pope was met at the airport here with a red carpet and a small honor guard, but with none of the music, cheering crowds and waving banners of other trips. Rather, small demonstrations protesting Benedict’s visit were held here and in Istanbul, where the pope will travel on Wednesday.

In brief comments on the plane, Benedict, who had apologized for the at-times violent reaction to his speech, made clear that one of his chief aims was to stimulate a “dialogue” to bring Christians and Muslims, the West and East, closer.

“The scope of this visit is dialogue, brotherhood, a commitment to understanding between cultures, between religions, for reconciliation,” he told reporters before his plane took off from Rome.

Mr. Erdogan, who unexpectedly greeted the pope at his plane, spoke too of the need for greater understanding.

“We are going through a tough period when the culture of violence has been expanding and our world faces disaster scenarios like the clashes of civilizations and polarizations in various directions,” he told reporters after his 20-minute meeting with Benedict. “Therefore, we need mutual understanding among different beliefs and civilizations more than any time in history.”

He said he viewed the pope’s visit as “very important” in building “an alliance of civilizations,” even as he seemed to refer to the pope’s speech about Islam and violence.

“I told him that Islam was a religion of peace and tolerance, and I saw that he shared this view,” he said.

Over the weekend, the Vatican began signaling a warming to the idea of Turkey’s membership in the European Union. Several church officials said the Vatican had no such opposition. The Vatican has never issued a formal position on the issue, In 2004, when then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said it would be a “grave error” to admit Turkey, both he and other church officials described it as his personal opinion.

The stalemate over Turkey’s membership has frustrated Turkish officials, who are working toward meetings among European Union members in December.

“Everything is just stuck,” Namik Tan, a spokesman for Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, said Monday. “How can an elected government with all these restrictions over the Turkish Cypriots open its ports without any restrictions? This government has a public here.”

On Tuesday night, officials from the European Union met to set conditions for the future of the talks. Turkish officials expect certain topics in the negotiations to be suspended, but others to continue.

“Look, they said there would be a train crash,” Mr. Erdogan said at the news conference. “Now they say, there is no train crash, but the train slowed down.”

After his meeting with Mr. Erdogan, Benedict visited the grave of Kemal Attaturk, the founder of the secular Turkish state after World War I, creating with much struggle the fullest democracy in the Muslim world.

He met later with the nation’s chief Muslim religious figure, Ali Bardakoglu, who was among the fiercest critics of the pope’s speech two months ago, and Turkey’s president, Ahmed Necdet Sezer. Later in the evening, he met with members of the world’s diplomatic corps here in Turkey’s capital. At every stop, he stressed the need for greater joint efforts to end terror, war and misunderstanding.

“I appreciate the efforts of numerous countries currently engaged in rebuilding peace in Lebanon, Turkey, among them,” he told the ambassadors. “In your presence, ambassadors, I appeal once more to the vigilance of the international community, that it not abandon its responsibilities, but make every effort to promote peace and dialogue.”


Analysis: Many Turks don't trust Pope
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey this week is unlikely to be a smooth affair as many Turks view the pontiff as the personification of European hostility toward their country, Time magazine reports in this analysis. Harsh words for Islam by the Pope in a speech earlier this year and difficulties over negotiations to join the European Union have soured many Turks on Europe and made them suspicious of the West, Time writes.
www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1563020,00.html  

BURAK KARA / GETTY IMAGES
Turkish protesters gather during a protest rally against the forthcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI November 26 in Istanbul, Turkey.
World

Why Turks Are Not Pleased to See the Pope

For many in Turkey, the visiting pontiff personifies the mounting hostility they feel from Europe
By PELIN TURGUT/ISTANBUL

Posted Monday, Nov. 27, 2006
It took a 12 hour bus ride for Hafize Kucuk and Sevgi Ozen, 21-year-old university students, to get from the northern Turkish city of Samsun to an Istanbul rally Sunday protesting Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey this week. But they thought little of the inconvenience. "This is a man who insulted our Prophet [Muhammad] and didn't even apologize properly," said Kucuk. "Now he's coming to our country, a Muslim country. This is unacceptable. We came to make our voices heard."

The rally, attended by some 15,000 Islamist protestors, was a colorful affair. Huge, lurid posters linking Benedict to Crusader knights. Hundreds of young men, wearing white headbands inscribed with the message "We don't want this sly Pope in Turkey", chanted angry slogans.

Militant protestors are a minority, but many Turks are deeply skeptical about a visit they view as part of a Western design against Turkey, which is mostly Muslim but officially secular.

The Pope could not have arrived at a more sensitive time: Turkey and the European Union appear on a collision course over whether the bloc will admit Turkey and its 70 million citizens. Support in Turkey for the EU has plummeted — a poll last week showed 60 percent in favor of suspending membership talks. And for many Turks, Benedict, who once warned that letting Turkey into the EU would be "a grave error against the tide of history," personifies European hostility towards them.

"At this point most Turks are deeply suspicious of the West," says Cengiz Aktar, political science professor at Galatasaray University. "They see this visit as yet another development to be suspicious of."

The protests have made strange bedfellows of the far left and the nationalist right. Their chief grievance concerns the Pope's scheduled talks with Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians. The talks, many Turks believe, are aimed not just at healing the centuries-old schism between the two churches, but at paving the way for creating in Turkey a Vatican-like entity for the Orthodox.

Every detail on the Pope's four-day itinerary is fraught with complications, including a planned visit to Hagia Sophia, a sixth century Byzantine church which was converted to a mosque in 1453 when the Ottomans conquered Istanbul. It was transformed into a museum in 1935.

Nationalists believe the Pope's visit to Hagia Sophia, a major tourist attraction, is a sign of Christian desire to reclaim it as a church. Newspapers have speculated feverishly over whether he will pray while inside.

"Its not that we have anything personal against the Pope," says Zafer Emanetoglu, head of the youth branch of the Islamist party which organized Sunday's rally. "But we know that he is here as part of a greater plan against Turkey, and to unite Christians against Muslims."

The Pope's visit has also put the moderate, Islamist-rooted government in a tight spot. With elections slated for next year, Turkish newspapers have speculated that being photographed with the Pope could alienate constituents of the ruling party — Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used his attendance at a NATO summit in Latvia to excuse himself from meeting with the pontiff.

To prevent any protests turning violent, a tight security plan — similar to that used for U.S. President George W. Bush on a recent visit — will be in place. Thousands of policemen, including snipers on rooftops, are on duty in Istanbul, and the papal entourage will feature hi-tech scrambling devices and decoy cars.

"Every security precaution has been taken," said a Turkish foreign ministry official. "Turks are a tolerant people, I don't imagine there will be any problems." Still, Ankara will be holding its breath until Friday, when the Pope flies home.


The Pope, Europe and Islam

... And Where He's Still in the Dark

Benedict's definition of what it means to be European ignores the positive contributions of Islam
By TARIQ RAMADAN

Posted Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006 www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1561146,00.html 
Since delivering the speech in which he quoted a 14th century Emperor who said the Prophet of Islam had given nothing positive to humanity and had commanded followers to use violence to spread their faith, Pope Benedict XVI has been subjected to bitter Muslim reaction around the world. Benedict has responded by saying he regretted the consequences of his misunderstood words, but he did not retract his statement--perhaps rightly so. After all, he had simply cited an ancient Emperor. It is Benedict's right to exercise his critical opinion without being expected to apologize for it--whether he's an ordinary Roman Catholic or the Pope.

But that doesn't mean he was right. Muslim attention has focused mainly on the lecture's association between violence and Islam, but the most important and disputable aspect of it was Benedict's reflection on what it means to be European. In his speech at Regensburg, the Pope attempted to set out a European identity that is Christian by faith and Greek by philosophical reason. But Benedict's speech implicitly suggested that he believes that Islam has no such relationship with reason--and thus is excluded from being European. Several years ago, the Pope, then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, set forth his opposition to the integration of Turkey into Europe in similar terms. Muslim Turkey has never been, and never will be, able to claim an authentically European culture, he contended. It is another thing; it is the Other.

As I have written before, this profoundly European Pope is inviting the people of his continent to become aware of the central, inescapable character of Christianity within their identity, or risk losing it. That may be a legitimate goal, but Benedict's narrow definition of European identity is deeply troubling and potentially dangerous. This is what Muslims must respond to: the tendency of Westerners to ignore the critical role that Muslims played in the development of Western thought. Those who "forget" the decisive contributions of rationalist Muslim thinkers like al-Farabi (10th century), Avicenna (11th century), Averroes (12th century), al-Ghazali (12th century), Ash-Shatibi (13th century) and Ibn Khaldun (14th century) are reconstructing a Europe that is not only an illusion but also self-deceptive about its past.

What the West needs most today is not so much a dialogue with other civilizations but an honest dialogue with itself--one that acknowledges those traditions within Western civilization that are almost never recognized. Europe, in particular, must learn to reconcile itself with the diversity of its past in order to master the coming pluralism of its future.

The Pope's visit to Turkey presents an opportunity to put forward the true terms of the debate over the relationship between Islam and the West. First, it is necessary to stop presenting this visit as if it were a trip to a country whose religion and culture are alien to Europe. Selective about its past, Europe is becoming blind to its present. The European continent has been home to a sizable population of Muslims for centuries. While visiting Turkey, the Pope must acknowledge that he is encountering not a potential threat but a mirror. Islam is already a European religion.

Rather than focus on differences, the true dialogue between the Pope and Islam, and between secularized societies and Islamic ones, should emphasize our common, universal values: mutual respect of human rights, basic freedoms, rule of law and democracy. Though most of the media attention is directed at a marginal minority of radicals, millions of European Muslims are quietly proving every day that they can live perfectly well in secular societies and share a strong ethical pedestal with Jews, Christians and atheist humanists.

Let us hope that the Pope will be able to transform his former perception of the threat of "the Other," of Islam, into a more open approach--by strongly highlighting the ethical teachings the religions have in common and the ways they can contribute together to the future of a pluralistic Europe. Benedict XVI should be free to express his opinions without risk of impassioned denunciation. But the least one can expect from the Pope--especially in this difficult era of fear and suspicion--is that he help bridge the divide and create new spaces of confidence and trust.

• Tariq Ramadan, a research fellow at Oxford, is the author of several books on Islam, including To Be a European Muslim


Pope Flies to Istanbul, Landing in a Political Cloud

By IAN FISHER
Published: November 28, 2006

ROME, Nov. 27 — Pope Benedict XVI originally wanted to visit Turkey a year ago, for one quiet night, and Islam had nothing to do with it.

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Vincenzo Pinto/AFP — Getty Images

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, right, met with Pope Benedict XVI upon the pope’s arrival at the airport in Ankara today.

Tolga Adanali/AFP — Getty Images

Pope Benedict XVI and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey at their meeting today. Mr. Erdogan said after the meeting that Benedict told him he supported Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

It was meant as a trip to help heal the 1,000-year rift with the world’s 220 million Orthodox Christians. The pope would celebrate the Feast of St. Andrew on Nov. 30 with Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of the worldwide Orthodox Church, who lives in Istanbul, then return to Rome.

But for various reasons having to do with its complex relationship with Orthodox Christianity, the Turkish government protested. No doubt the nation’s leaders wish they had approved a visit then. Now, after the pope’s speech two months ago that many interpreted as suggesting that Islam was prone to violence, the trip that starts Tuesday has become far more complicated.

Turkey, facing continuing protests and lingering anger over the pope’s words, has to ensure his safety during the four-day visit and maintain the image of a secular and moderate Muslim nation that wants to join the European Union.

And Benedict now has two jobs. The trip is still aimed primarily at reaching out to the Orthodox. But after his apologies for the reaction to the speech mentioning Islam, expectations are high for him also to reach out to Muslims — if with measured words unlikely to express the full range of his complex concerns about Islam and the possibilities of meaningful dialogue with Christians.

“He is aware that he offended Muslims by his remarks in Regensburg,” said the Rev. Keith F. Pecklers, a Jesuit priest and professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University here, referring to the city in Germany where the pope delivered the speech in September. “So I am sure he will be very careful to bring a message of hope and reconciliation.”

Sergio Romano, a former Italian ambassador to NATO, put it succinctly in a column on Monday in the influential daily newspaper Corriere della Sera: “The theological pope is turning into a diplomatic pope.”

It is impossible to know exactly what Benedict plans to say about Islam: His speeches, most often written by Benedict himself, are closely guarded until just before they are delivered.

But there are at least two relevant events on his schedule. On Tuesday, he will meet with Turkey’s chief Muslim religious figure, Ali Bardakoglu, who had been one of the most outspoken critics of the pope’s speech. On Thursday, in an event announced over the weekend, he will visit the splendid Blue Mosque, built deliberately facing the Hagia Sophia, the magnificent sixth-century church that symbolized Byzantine Christianity, to show that Islam could compete with the best that Christianity could offer.

In this visit, Benedict will become the second pope known to have visited a mosque, after his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. But John Paul had a far different approach to Islam: He tended to emphasize the similarities of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and was fond of public displays of unity, like interreligious prayer services.

Benedict is considered to be skeptical of stagecraft, with deep concerns about whether true dialogue is possible with a faith as decentralized as Islam. He has also worried, on several occasions, about violence committed in the name of religion, suggesting Islam.

Benedict has, however, expressed admiration for the role of faith in the Muslim world; conversely, he has been strongly critical of a West so secular that it sometimes shuts God out of public life completely. Several church experts suggested that this may be one area of common ground between the pope and his hosts.

“He stresses very much that Western civilization and the international community are based too much on a materialistic mentality,” said the Rev. Bernardo Cervellera, head of Asia News, a Catholic news service that covers the East. “And this is why there must be a kind of reconciliation and cooperation between religions in order to correct this prominence of materialism in society.”

In mapping relations with Islam, Benedict has insisted on “reciprocity,” that Christian minorities in Muslim countries should enjoy the same freedom of religion as Muslims do, say, in Europe. But on this trip, any mention too specific about religious freedom holds the danger of offending Turkey.

Turkey’s Orthodox Christians, although only a few thousand in number, complain of laws and bureaucratic obstacles that make life difficult for their clergy and institutions, and many Orthodox would like Benedict to offer at least indirect support for changes that, they say, would allow the church to operate more freely.

Part of the problem between the state and the Christian community, Turkish experts say, is a fear among many Turks that Bartholomew seeks to establish a Vatican-like Christian mini-state in the heart of Istanbul, an assertion he denies.

Sensitivities are high enough that part of the reason Turkey denied the trip last year was that the invitation came from Bartholomew, a religious leader. Only a head of state, officials argued, can invite another head of state, like the pope, on a visit.

Some experts say Benedict can go far in pleasing Turks merely by being friendly, and he seems to want to do that. On Sunday, he sent his “cordial greetings to the dear Turkish people.”

Another way Benedict can win people over, said Dogu Ergil, a political science professor at Ankara University, would be for him to show some sign that he had changed his mind on an issue that has not endeared him to Turks: Before Benedict was elected pope, he expressed his opposition to Turkey’s membership to the European Union, calling Turkey “in permanent contrast to Europe.” On Sunday, however, the top papal spokesman, Federico Lombardi, said the Vatican had no objections.

“Turks have short memories,” Professor Ergil said, hoping the pope will change his stance. “They can easily forget.”


Europe should not turn its back on Turkey, Vatican envoy says

Source : EU Observer, 27-11-2006
www.turquieeuropeenne.org/article1623.html 

As thousands of Muslims protest against this week’s visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey following his comments on Islam and Ankara’s EU bid, the Vatican’s chief spokesman in Istanbul tells EUobserver the Muslim country belongs in Europe and opposition towards it is based on fear of the unknown.

Over 25,000 people gathered in Istanbul on Sunday (26 November) in a demonstration against the visit by the leader of the Catholic Church leader starting in Ankara on Tuesday, shouting "Don’t come, Pope!" - a statement also written on posters displayed throughout the city.

The country’s Muslims were angered by a speech by the Pope in September in which he suggested a link between violence and Islam. His apology afterwards and Sunday’s message of "esteem and sincere friendship" to the "beloved Turkish people" did little to quell the anger.

But Mons Georges Marovitch, the spokesman for the Vatican as well as for the tiny Catholic community in Turkey, estimated to number around 33,000 or 0.5 percent of the population, hopes that the Pope’s visit will serve to heal the rifts.

"His previous statements were misunderstood and I’m sure that he will now find words of conciliation for those that have been hurt so that the dialogue between the two biggest religions is resumed as the world’s peace depends on it," said Mons Marovitch.

On Ankara’s EU membership - openly contended by cardinal Ratzinger before he became pope - Mons Marovitch said: "At the moment, any of us can and must admit that Turkey is not prepared to join the EU but to say a definite no would be a big mistake from Europe."

He added that the inter-cultural and inter-religious experience dating back to the Ottoman empire, as well as the core moral values of Islam being so close to Christianity mean that the country would be "a huge enrichment for Europe."

"In Istanbul, in the time when in Europe you couldn’t imagine that a mosque or synagogue would be constructed, the Turks built a mosque, a church and a synagogue almost next to each other where people of all these religions could pray."

Mons Marovitch acknowledges that over time the freedoms of religious minorities have deteriorated, an issue also highlighted by the European Commission in a recent report on Turkey’s progress towards membership of the EU.

But he says the EU membership process has triggered a series of positive changes that could significantly change the life of those minorities.

"We can recognize the fear of Turkey in Europe. But this fear is there because Europeans don’t know Turkey well," Mons Marovitch points out, stressing that both concerns over an influx of economic immigrants and fear of Islam as a different religion can be challenged.

"If Europe helped Turkey’s economy a bit to get on the same level as other European countries, I’m sure that no Turk would want to leave his country and go to Europe as Turkey is three times as big as Italy and twice as big as France and has many riches to give to its people."

"On the other hand, Islam as the different religion could also be enriching as many Europeans have lost some of their moral values and supported laws which are against the basic ideas of both of these monotheistic religions and which Turks as Muslims would never approve."

Mons Marovitch noted that many in Turkey actually oppose EU membership saying that instead of being "a last and looked-down-on van in the back" the country should become a "locomotive in a train consisting of Islamic countries."

"But if this happened, it would be a historic loss for Europe as it would mean that we would see an emergence of two camps that could easily end up standing in confrontation against each other."

"So it’s better if Turkey became a bridge for dialogue and a bridge between these two diverse civilisations," he added.

EU Christian heritage

Mr Marovitch is aware that although he is referred to as the Vatican’s representative in Istanbul, his views are not necessarily shared either in the Vatican or elsewhere Europe.

But he argues that they are well-known and are also shared in the Catholic community in Turkey, with other Christian denominations also expressing similar opinions.

"Of course I am not a politician," he says but he does not refrain from commenting on political issues such as the French law on denial of Armenian genocide in 1915, saying those French deputies who voted in favour "didn’t know the problem."

"That bill is a result of a political discourse and I hope it will not pass through as it would be a big mistake. Turks themselves acknowledge that there was a massacre of Armenians but it was not genocide. In any case, we should let the historians deal with this not politicians."

Unlike some in Europe, he also disagrees that a future EU constitution needs to refer exclusively to the Christian religion and its values.

"The reference to such values is not as crucial as the values themselves and so we should be careful about the words that we are using but instead highlight the moral values that we have - and these we share with the Muslim community. And so for me, it would be better not to use such words," he said.


Awaiting Pope, Turkey Is Unsure About Ties to West

Fatih Saribas/Reuters

Turks protested the pope's visit on Monday in Istanbul.

By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: November 28, 2006

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 27 — A short 24 hours before a visit by Pope Benedict XVI to this Muslim country, its prime minister finally agreed to meet him publicly. The venue: the airport, on the Turkish leader’s way out of town.

The elaborate, last-minute choreography pointed to the deep divide that has festered within Turkish society since the foundation of the modern state. Should Turkey face eastward, toward its Muslim neighbors, or westward, toward Europe?

In the past five years, Muslims here have repeatedly felt betrayed by the West. The United States began holding Muslims without charges at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It invaded Iraq and abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The European Union has cooled to them. The pope made a speech citing criticism of Islam.

Now, Turkey — a Muslim country with a rigidly secular state — is at a pivot point. It is trying to navigate a treacherous path between the forces that want to pull it closer toward Islam and the institutions that safeguard its secularism. Turkey’s government, which is pro-Islamic, is constrained by rules dictating secularism established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s revered founder.

The extremes jostle on Istanbul’s streets, where miniskirts mix with tightly tied headscarves and lingerie boutiques stand unapologetically next to mosques.

“There are two Turkeys within Turkey right now,” said Binnaz Toprak, a professor of political science at Bosporus University.

The pope’s visit, which begins Tuesday, falls squarely on that sensitive fault line and has brought into stark relief a slow but steady shift: Turkey is feeling its Muslim identity more and more. The trend worries secular Turkish politicians, who believe the state’s central tenet is under threat. In late October, a senior officer of Turkey’s army — which has ousted governments it has seen as overly Islamic — issued a rare warning to that effect.

Others say the threat is overstated, but acknowledge that Turks do feel pushed east by pressures on their country from America and Europe. A poll by the Pew Foundation in June found that 53 percent of Turks have positive views of Iran, while public opinion of Europe and the United States has slipped sharply.

“Many people in Turkey have lost hopes in joining Europe and they are looking for other horizons,” said Onur Oymen, an opposition politician whose party is staunchly secular.

It has been more than 80 years since religion was ripped out of the heart of the new Turkish state, which was assembled from the remains of the Ottoman Empire, the political and economic heart of the Muslim world for centuries. But the portion of Turks who identify themselves by their religion, first and foremost as Muslims, has increased to 46 percent this year, from 36 percent seven years ago, according to a survey of 1,500 people in 23 cities conducted by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, an independent research organization based in Istanbul. That is a trend that has emerged in countries throughout the Muslim world since Sept. 11, 2001.

“I’m here as a Muslim,” said Fatma Eksioglu, who was sitting on the grass next to her sister in downtown Istanbul on Sunday at a demonstration of about 20,000 people opposing the pope’s visit. She did not belong to the Islamic party that organized the gathering, she said, adding, “When it comes to Islam we are one.”

But in a paradox that goes to the heart of the nuances of modern Turkey —— a stronger Muslim identity does not mean that, as in Iraq, fundamentalism is on the rise. or even that more Turks want more religion in their government. Indeed, the number of Turks in favor of imposing Sharia law declined to 9 percent from 21 percent, according to the survey, which was released last week.

Perhaps the most powerful factor pushing Turks toward the east has been a series of bitter setbacks in talks on admission to the European Union. To try to win membership, the Turkish government enacted a series of rigorous reforms to bring the country in line with European standards, including some unprecedented in the Muslim world, such as a law against marital rape.

But the admission talks have stalled. And while the official reason is a quibble involving the longstanding Greek-Turkish dispute over Cyprus, most Turks say they believe the real reason is a deep suspicion of their country’s religion.

They see that in the opposition to Turkey’s admission voiced by some European countries, including Germany, Austria and France. Indeed, in 2002, , former President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing of France said Turkey’s admission to the European Union would mean ”the end of Europe,” and now the French presidential hopeful Nicholas Sarkozy has made his opposition a campaign issue. Even the pope, when he was still a cardinal in Germany, said publicly that he did not think Turkey fit into Europe because it was Muslim. That talk has begun to grate on Turks.

“It hurts me that the E.U. expects Turkey to be something it’s not,” said Nilgun Yun, a stylish 26-year-old chewing a chocolate muffin in a downtown Istanbul cafe on Sunday.

Her position, shared by many of her friends, was simple: “Accept me as I am. We are Muslim, and we will remain Muslim. That’s not going to change.”

Mr. Oyman, the Turkish opposition politician, said that talk about Turkey was tougher than ever. “You cannot believe how they accuse Turkey on Cyprus and other issues,” he said in a telephone interview from Brussels, where he was attending a meeting of European parliamentarians. “Our European friends are playing a very shortsighted game.”

The shift has begun affect trade. While Europe is still Turkey’s largest trading partner, business with other neighbors, including Syria, Iraq and Iran, has picked up substantially in recent years, said Omer Bolat, the head of one of the country’s largest business associations, whose members are mostly pro-Islamic. He put the growth at about 30 percent from just 3 percent in 2000.

“It is risky for a country with respect to foreign policy to have dependence on one partner and market,” he said in English, sitting in a sleek conference room when overlooking a bustling trade fair showcasing Turkish goods. “Now Turkey is opening its muscles, its horizons.”

The policies of the Bush administration have deeply worried Muslims, he said, before rushing off to speak to the Pakistani ambassador, who had arrived to the trade fair.

“The United States used to be paradigm of freedom and rights,” he said. “But since the Republican period, the U.S. policies have been so detrimental in Muslim eyes.”

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, in just four years, has managed to get inflation down to historic lows and growth rates to all-time highs. The growing prosperity has eased integration of religious Turks into the country’s self-consciously society, which is still suspicious of advocates of Islam, as well as of Mr. Erdogan and his pro-Islamic government.

“This group of people that was more religious has relaxed,” Ms. Toprak said. “They are now visible. They go to restaurants they would never have gone; they go to posh shopping malls.”

“It was a struggle to get a piece of the pie,” she said. “Now they have one.”

Even so, the increased religiosity, or at least identification with religion, could eventually present a serious problem for Turkey. There are already rumblings. A killing of a judge whose court had ruled on a headscarf case aroused suspicions among Turkey’s securlarists. Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, head of the Turkish Army, has referred to a rising threat of fundamentalism on at least four occasions since he came to office in late August.

Mr. Erdogan’s closely watched government has attempted to limit liquor consumption in public places, but later backed down. It also tried to make adultery a crime, but later relented.

Some Turkish officials play down the possibility of real damage to secularism, but say that European suspicion does Turkey no good.

The delay with Europe, for instance, “fans up the disappointment, the disillusionment,” said Namik Tan, the spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry. “People say, why are they doing this?”

That is why public officials, including Mr. Erdogan, have shrunk from the visit of the pope, who symbolizes, in the eyes of Turks, a disdain for Islam and the unfair exclusivity of the Western club. A cartoon in a Turkish newspaper last weekend showed two public officials belly-laughing at the bad luck of those Turkish officials obliged to meet him. (The senior official appointed to be his formal guide has the portfolio of youth and sport.) But the pope is coming, and the meetings are happening. Despite growing pains, a neglected Kurdish minority in the south, a thin skin for any reference to the Armenian genocide, and failure to scrap a law that makes insulting Turkishness a crime, Turkey stands out as lively democracy in a larger Middle East riddled with restrictions, and its acceptance by the West is a test case for everyone, officials said.

Muslim countries, Mr. Tan points out, are watching. “Turkey is a beacon for those countries,” he said. “Don’t forget, if we fail, then the whole dream will fail.”


28 November 2006

Ecumenical route in the tracks of crusades

 

As the trip of the Pope of Rome to Turkey, planned almost a year ago, is approaching, there is a growing tension in certain religious and public circles dripping down gradually to the faithful. The succession of events on the eve of the trip has heated the universal expectations to the highest possible degree. With the collective Islamic emotional explosion caused by Benedict XVI’s speech at Regensburg University still resounding, thousands of angry Istanbul people carrying anti-papal slogans, the promises of Turkish nationalists to strangle the pope ‘with their own hands’ together with the Holy See’s chief ‘ecumenical’ adviser Cardinal Walter Kasper, and finally the recent rumors that the papal delegation are to be protected by the Mossad bodyguards – all this seems to lay out a plot for a fashionable religious-political suspense story. Some appropriate bestsellers about an inevitable attempt on the pope’s life in Istanbul with the necessary involvement of local special services and masons have already been offered to the public by apt publishers in Ankara.

The relevance of such an interreligious detective story may seem more than obvious at a time when it is believed to be a good form and a good knowledge of the subject to consider all the developments in this area through the prism of dialogue of civilizations and general pacifist goals of world religions. The principled coldness of the Turkish authorities and the indignation of the masses deliberately heated up by the Islamic Grey Wolves as reaction to the papal visit are essentially signs showing that in reality the Islamic-Christian relations will never be serenely simple and capable of being reduced to joint diplomatic declarations. Their conflict-prone nature however lies elsewhere. The charges of insults to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad brought against the pope, which are called to stir up mass protests, actually conceal the real anxiety that the Turkish elite feel towards the pontiff’s visit to Istanbul. Moreover, the reason for this anxiety is the same as that which compels Orthodox Churches, considering all the troubles of the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue, to follow closely the upcoming meeting between Benedict XVI and the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Indeed, the resolute statements of Turkey’s president for religious affairs Ali Bardakoglu about his intention to remind the pope that it is inadmissible to insult the prophet have made almost unnoticed the recent statements made by the president of the Pontific Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Poupard. He says it is not at all consolidation of relations between religions that has been put in the center of the visit by the head of the Catholic Church to the Islamic state but rather ecumenical dialogue and reflection on the ways of developing Christian unity. Benedict XVI is coming to what was Constantinople first of all as head of the Roman See whose ecumenical ecclesial authority has determined the policy of the popes for centuries. The forthcoming meeting of the successor at St. Peter’s throne with the Patriarch of Constantinople to take place on St. Andrew’s Day is utterly symbolic. Moreover, this symbolism, which is often to be followed in church policy by practical action, appears to be a solid irritant for the Turkish authorities who are reluctant to hear even a hint of Bartholomew’s claim to the status of ‘Ecumenical’ Patriarch of the Orthodox world.

The Islamic vector of the pontificate of John Paul II’s conservative successor has not been specified yet. Indeed, to regard a quotation from a medieval manuscript given by a former theological professor with proper reservations as the Vatican’s declaration of ‘cold war’ on Islam is at least a hasty proposal. At the same time, it is anybody’s guess whether the pontificate of Benedict XVI, who ignored the demands to apologize ‘for Regensburg’, will be marked with as significant and almost revolutionary statements as Nostra Aetate made by Rome II with regard to non-Christian religions at Vatican II.

Meanwhile, the ecumenical vector of Benedict XVI’s policy seems to have grown ever more consistent after the first statement he made immediately after his election to the See of Rome, pledging to commit himself to the visible unity of Christian Churches. The Eastern Christian component of ecumenism appears to be a priority for the pope, who admitted a month ago a desire to bring nearer the moment of communion with the Orthodox Greeks. However, the historically establish multi-polar nature of the Orthodox world will demand that the Holy See elaborate as multi-component and multifaceted policy of relations with National Orthodox Churches. The meeting of the Orthodox-Catholic Theological Commission in September in Belgrade has reaffirmed that it is inadmissible to use uniform methods in the dialogue between the Roman Catholic West and the polycentric Orthodox East and that it is necessary to use individual reciprocal ways in every particular case. The Istanbul meeting between Benedict XVI and one of the Orthodox patriarchs, even if more ready than others to make a compromise on the issue of the papal primacy, will still remain a meeting between the leader of the Catholic world and the head of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. And the opinion of the religious leader of a comparatively small Greek flock to be expressed in a future joint declaration made together with the Pope of Rome will never become, however strong the wish, a testimony to an ‘ecumenical breakthrough’ in the awareness of the millions-strong Orthodox world.
Elena ZHOSUL, www.interfax-religion.com 

Religious Affairs of Turkey: "I do not think Pope's visit will solve all problems"

27 November 2006 [14:06] - Today.Az

Head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs of Turkey: 
"I do not think Pope's visit will solve all problems"

"I appreciate Pope's visit to Turkey. This is positive step in developing and improving discussions and dialogues between the two different nations," Head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs Ali Bardakoglu.

"I wish these steps to be continuous when the world needs peace not war.
The Pope's speech in Germany wasn't a critique. It turned against fundamentally sacred elements of Islam in a condemning manner. In this sense, it was flawed. It shouldn' have been that way, as the pope himself later came to understand. Whenever we hear such accuses we show our reaction and say that they are wrong. But at the same time, whenever the person we criticize visits us we will be hospitable. Because, Turkish are hospitable nation. Highly estimating this visit, I do not think that it will solve all problems."

Ali Bardakoglu considers normal that Turkey expressed the strictest reaction both to caricature crisis and Pope's speech.

"We're always open to criticism. The aim of Turkey is to be hospitable, in spite of not accepting the guests' thoughts, to treat him politely," he said.

He also highly estimated Pope Iohann Pavel's peaceful messages during his visit to Azerbaijan, APA reports.

"If only we could realize what we say. Koran says Why do you say what you can not realize. I give my regards to my friends in Azerbaijan," he said.
www.today.az/news/society/33155.html 


Pope's Visit Overshadowed by Confrontation With Islam

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey to heal a rift with the eastern Orthodox Church, has been overshadowed by Muslim anger over remarks about Islam. Muslim Turks seek dialogue, but will be monitoring his every word.

The highlight of Benedict's trip to Turkey is to share in a joint liturgical mass with ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of the eastern Orthodox churches, which split from Rome in 1054. However, the four-day visit has now been overshadowed by the clash between Islam and Christianity.

 

It used to be rampant secularism in the West, not Christianity that was the scourge of radical Muslims, until Pope Benedict XVI quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor, who'd characterized Islam as "evil and inhuman."

 

The German pope has since expressed deep regret at the pain his remarks had caused in September on an official visit to Bavaria, where he gave a speech at the University of Regensburg.

 

How that one particular quote got past the Vatican censors has been subject to much press speculation, but experts say that Benedict actually wanted to seek common ground with Muslims, while making a salient point or two about the use of violence in the name of religion.

 

Pope's parallels with Islam

 

Ironically, an important message of the speech on one of the pope's favorite topics, the link between faith and reason, had criticized the "modern, Western world that excludes God from its life," a view that is also shared by devout Muslims.

 

"The pope was lecturing as a university professor, where he once taught, not as a political figure," said Eberhard von Gemmingen, a Jesuit priest who is head of the German section of Radio Vatican. "I assume that is why he spoke so freely, and did not anticipate the public reaction to his speech. This is a pope who wants to have challenging, provocative discussions.

 

"He also wanted to get across the point that Christians, who are a tiny minority in a predominantly Muslim country such as Turkey, do not enjoy the same religious freedoms that Muslims do in the West," von Gemmingen added. "Turkey is a secular country, in theory. But in practice, religious minorities are totally discriminated against, and if Turkey hopes to join the EU, it must recognize certain basic human rights for all, regardless of faith."

 

Pope under increased scrutiny

 

Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, an Islamic expert who is the Vatican's nuncio to Cairo, meanwhile said that the papal visit would be closely scrutinized.

 

"The main purpose of the trip is to meet the patriarch, but the goal of the Catholic Church has been always to reach out to Muslims too," said Fitzgerald, who was formerly head of the Vatican's office for inter-religious dialogue. "What makes the visit different this time is that everyone will scrutinize what the pope says more closely, so that the outcome of his visit will take on an added significance. Many Muslims have accepted the Pope's apology, others have very politely said he was mistaken, but would like to continue a dialogue."

 

No successor to Vatican's inter-faith dialogue office


The Web site Catholic Online cited sources saying that transferring Archbishop Fitzgerald from the Vatican to Egypt last February could signal a tougher stance in the relations with Islam, and a greater insistence on evangelism. 

 

The fact that the pope did not nominate an immediate successor to the post could signal a change in the actual status of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. This concerns Turkish Muslims, such as Cemal Usak, who heads a foundation in Istanbul on inter-faith dialogue.

 

"I have read the speech in translation, and was not pleased with it," Usak said. "As pope, he should not speak in that way. He said he was sorry, but the apology was not sufficient. Ninety-nine percent of Muslims are moderate. Our prophet never justified the use of violence against humanity."

 

Usak added that Benedict also failed to live up to his predecessor, John Paul II, in this respect. The latter had built bridges to the Islamic world with symbolic gestures by citing the Koran and visiting mosques.

 

"Everything now depends on what Benedict says publicly in speeches with the (Turkish) president, the patriarch," Usak said. "He can compensate for the wounded hearts of Muslims. I am optimistic."

 

Airport meeting with PM

 

On Tuesday, the pope will be meeting with Ali Bardakoglu, the president of Religious Affairs and Turkey's highest Muslim authority, who has condemned the pope's Regensburg speech.


A visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque, which is regarded as a highly symbolic move of reconciliation, is not on the official schedule however. While a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is headed out to the NATO summit in Riga on the day of the pope's arrival, was originally not planned, Erdogan now wants to meet Benedict for 15 minutes at the airport in Ankara.

  

The Vatican is not against Turkey joining the EU either, even though Benedict, as cardinal, was opposed to its bid to join.

 

"If Turkey fulfills its obligations and meets EU criteria, why shouldn't it become a full member?" asked Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi. "The issue of Turkish membership in the EU is a political one. We must note that the Vatican is not an EU member."

Diana Fong  /www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2250388,00.html  27.11.06


Vatican: Pope Benedict's gaffes result of high tension



An article in the Italian weekly "Gente" asserts this week that Pope Benedict XVI's recent gaffes concerning the Muslim world are the result of the elderly leader's elevated blood pressure.

The article notes that Pope Benedict has undergone a small operation in preparation for an eventual bypass operation, and that the bronchitis suffered by the Pope since his childhood has put undue pressure on the Pope's heart. Says the article: "No matter how much the Pope's personal doctor, Bumkhard Phaff, may deny it, the Pope has elevated blood pressure, and is only able to stay standing due to his medicines." The Gente article also placed part of the blame for the controversy surrounding the Pope's words on current Vatican spokesman Priest Franscesco Lombardini, noting "If former press spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls, who worked for 24 years at that position, were still on the job, this crisis would not have grown to these dimensions."
www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/5510527.asp?gid=74  Nov.29 2006


Visit of friendship to Turkey: Pope
The English newspaper the Independent described the Pontiff’s forthcoming visit to Turkey as a papal trip to hell.
 
NTV-MSNBC
Güncelleme: 16:41 TSİ 27 Kasım 2006 Pazartesi

ROME - Pope Benedict XVI said his forthcoming visit to Turkey was a sign of the friendship he held for the Turkish people. The Pope, who is due to arrive in Ankara Tuesday afternoon, said that he was looking forward to his visit and the opportunity to meet with senior Muslim, Catholic and Greek Orthodox clerics.

“As you all know I am leaving for Turkey on Tuesday,” the Pontiff said in his weekly Angelus prayer in Rome on Sunday. “Starting right now, I want to send a cordial greeting to the dear Turkish people, rich in history and culture. To these people and their representatives I express feelings of esteem and sincere friendship.”

Security will be tight throughout the Papal trip, with more than 3000 police, along with paramilitary units, being deployed in Ankara for the Pope’s visit, his first to a Muslim country since becoming Pontiff.

While many Turks were upset by the Pontiff’s comments in September seen as being critical of Islam, the Turkish government has accepted the Vatican’s explanation that the Pope was speaking out against all religious-based violence and not singling out the Muslim faith.

On Sunday, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said the Pontiff’s visit was important for helping to foster relations between faiths and help overcome misunderstandings.


Pope's Visit Opportunity to Display Tolerance
By Erdal Sen, Ankara

zaman.com 11.29.2006 Wednesday

 In its Monday session, the Turkish cabinet discussed possible repercussions of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Turkey.

Government spokesman Cemil Cicek commented on the pope’s visit after the session ended.

Cicek stressed that worldwide perceptions of Turkey emanated from its adherence to tolerance, hospitality and its institutionalized statehood.

“I hope this visit will be a good opportunity to demonstrate those qualities to the whole world once again.”

Cicek said that reactions and protests were not intended to criticize the pope for simply being the pope, but rather his remarks about Islam.

“Of course, there is a certain fury among a faction of the Turkish public against the pope visiting the country. Turkish officials said at the time that the pope’s remarks [about Islam] were demeaning. The cabinet also participated in issuing the necessary statements to appease public reaction.”

The pope came as a guest of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, said Cicek, and underlined that the pope had intended his visit to be spiritual.

Asked to comment on a possible message from the Turkish premier to the pope, Cicek said, “What matters is not what we say; but what our visitors say to us. I hope this visit will bring with it an opportunity to bridge the gap between Christianity and Islam.”

Protestors Ask Pope to Apologize Before his Visit

zaman.com

 On Sunday, at least 20,000 demonstrators protested the Pope’s visit to Turkey scheduled to begin Nov. 28.

The protest meeting which was organized by the religious Saadet political party ended without any incidents.

The crowd, chanting slogans and carrying banners, took to Caglayan Square in central Istanbul to protest the visit.

The protestors, referring to the Pope’s remarks against Islam, asked him to “apologize” for his remarks linking violence and Islam.

The Saadet party leader gave a speech during the protest meeting and said: “We are a hospitable nation. We are ready to welcome the Pope if he apologizes for his remarks.”

There were some foreign journalists among the crowd. In particular, Italian media and Arab TV channels showed a huge interest in the protest meeting.

The protest meeting ended with a teleconference speech by former Saadet Party leader Necmettin Erbakan.

Some protestors carried banners that read, “Ignorant and sneaky pope, don’t come.”

Some banners were written in English. “Jesus is not the son of God, he is a Prophet of Islam,” and “We as Muslims believe Jesus came before Mohammed and accept Jesus as our Prophet."

The Pope is scheduled to arrive in the Turkish capital Ankara on Tuesday at the invitation of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

Pope Benedict has also decided to visit the Sultanahmet Mosque, better known as the Blue Mosque.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi confirmed this on Sunday.

While visiting his native Germany in September, Pope Benedict commented on Islam and its concept of "jihad" or holy war, citing a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who said the Prophet Mohammed had brought the world nothing but "evil and inhuman" things.

Following protests and demonstrations attended by thousands of people, the Pope later made a statement to try and calm the anger sparked in Muslim countries.

The pontiff said that he was "deeply sorry" for his remarks that had offended Muslims; however, he stopped short of making an unequivocal apology, defending instead that the extract he used in his speech did not reflect his personal opinion.


POPE IN TURKEY: INTERVIEW - 
VISIT IS AN APOLOGY FOR CONTROVERSIAL ISLAM SPEECH


 

Ankara, 27 Nov. (AKI) - The historic visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey starting on Tuesday will be particularly significant as it will amount to an apology for a controversial papal speech linking Islam to violence, according to the editor in chief of Turkish Daily News. Yusuf Kanli told Adnkronos International (AKI) that Benedict's visit to the predominantly Muslim country "is in itself an apology." "I believe .. he will use this trip to apologize and correct his mistake," Hanli said, referring to the address the pontiff gave at Germany's Regensburg University which angered Muslims worldwide.

"Therefore the visit is very important not in itself but because of the international situation - with islamophobia in Europe and the pontiff's speech," he said.

"After the September speech in Germany, which was unfortuntate, the pope made overtures and many in this country understand the concept of the infallibility of the pontiff and they understand that an official apology from him was impossible. However, what he did was unfortunate, unacceptable, he must think three, four times before talking hatred. He is a man of religion, a man of peace."

The journalist also stressed that Turkey is the only Muslim country which he can visit without danger because "this is a democracy."

"People have their opinions but violence can be in words and not in action," he added referring to strong security concerns. "The pope is safer in Turkey than in the Vatican."

Highly placed Vatican sources told Adnkronos on Monday that the pope was "concerned" about the reaction to his visit to the predominantly Muslim nation - Islamist extremists and ultra-nationalists have promised protests - but was "strongly convinced of the necessity and the usefulness" of the trip.

"It's a fact that Benedict won't be the most welcome visitor to Turkey," Kanli told AKI "But the visit is very important and the reactions will only be from extremists."

The Vatican sources also said Benedict XVI's worries stemmed from the way certain hardline Muslims may seek to "exploit" the visit to advance their own agenda. The pope feared that the "anger sparked by the protests against him could end up politicising the trip and diminish its ecumenical value," the sources said.

"It will be exploited," commented Kanly. "They are preparing for it. But I don't think this will bring harm."


Islam's unlikely soul mate -- the pope

Both bemoaning the West's secularism, Benedict XIV and Mideast Muslims have a shot at true dialogue.
By John L. Allen Jr., JOHN L. ALLEN JR. is the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and author of "The Rise of Benedict XVI."
November 26, 20006 www.latimes.com

Can jihad be redeemed? That is, can the religious and moral sense of purpose that often fuels Islamic extremism be leavened with a commitment to reason and peace, and can it be done without opening the door to gradual secularization? It's the

$64,000 question facing Islam, and it is, for the most part, one that only Muslims can answer.

One could make the case, however, that if anyone in the West can help, it's Pope Benedict XVI, despite the firestorm unleashed by his Sept. 12 comments on Islam. Benedict is the lone figure of global standing in the West who speaks from within the same thought-world that many Muslims sympathetic to the jihadists inhabit.

Benedict XVI will visit Turkey this week, his first trip to a majority Muslim state. And given the furor following his quotation of a 14th century Byzantine emperor that Muhammad brought "things only evil and inhuman," the pope will certainly have the Islamic world's attention. Much may ride on what he does with it.

A detour into the recent history of Islamic thought illustrates the potential for common ground.

Egyptian poet and essayist Sayyid Qutb, hanged by Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1966, is the father of modern Islamic radicalism. He spent 1948-50 in the United States attending Wilson Teachers College, the Colorado State College of Education (today the University of Northern Colorado) and Stanford University as part of an exchange program. Based on that experience, Qutb penned his famous tract, "The America I Have Seen," which still exercises a profound effect in shaping Muslim perceptions of American culture.

The work amounted to a ferocious attack on what Qutb called "the American man," depicted as obsessed with technology but virtually a barbarian in the realm of spirituality and human values. American society, for Qutb, was "rotten and ill" to its very core.

He wrote: "This great America: What is it worth in the scale of human values? And what does it add to the moral account of humanity? And, by the journey's end, what will its contribution be? I fear that a balance may not exist between America's material greatness and the quality of its people. And I fear that the wheel of life will have turned and the book of life will have closed and America will have added nothing, or next to nothing, to the account of morals that distinguishes man from object, and indeed, mankind from animals."

A particular zone of disgust for Qutb was what he saw as the sexual licentiousness of American culture (and this, bear in mind, was the early 1950s). He wrote that a society in which "immoral teachings and poisonous intentions are rampant" and in which sex is considered "outside the sphere of morality" is one in which "the humanity of man can hardly find a place to develop." Qutb said that "providing full opportunities for the development and perfection of human characteristics requires strong safeguards for the peace and stability of the family."

In general, Qutb's writing simmers with an outrage and extremism that no one would associate with the Old World, cerebral style of Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI. Yet for anyone familiar with Ratzinger's cultural criticism over the years, there is nevertheless something strikingly familiar in Qutb's polemic — not so much with regard to America as with the West in general. What both figures share is a conviction that the West's cult of technology has produced a deep spiritual and moral crisis.

In his 1990 book, "In the Beginning," on the doctrine of creation, Ratzinger wrote of Western society: "The good and the moral no longer count, it seems, but only what one can do. The measure of a human being is what he can do, and not what he is, not what is good or bad. What he can do, he may do…. And that means that he is destroying himself and the world…. [The question] 'What can we do?' will be false and pernicious while we refrain from asking, 'Who are we?' The question of being and the question of our hopes are inseparable."

Ratzinger has even linked this argument to the question of birth control, saying that contraception is merely a mechanical solution to an ethical and cultural problem. In his 1997 book, "Salt of the Earth," he said: "One of our great perils [is] that we want to master the human condition with technology, that we have forgotten that there are primordial human problems that are not susceptible to technological solutions, but that demand a certain lifestyle and certain life decisions." Benedict XVI would thus find in Qutb a version — admittedly in a sometimes irrational form — of his own critique of the West.

This is the most compelling reason why Benedict's repeated insistence that he wants a "frank and sincere" dialogue with Islam is more than lip service. Fundamentally, the clash of cultures Benedict sees in the world today is not between Islam and the West but between belief and unbelief — between a culture that grounds itself in God and religious belief and a culture that lives etsi Deus non daretur, "as if God does not exist." In that struggle, Benedict has long said, Muslims are natural allies.

Recently, for example, the Vatican vigorously protested a gay pride march in Jerusalem, arguing that such an event is "offensive to the great majority of Jews, Muslims and Christians." It's a classic example of an issue around which Benedict believes engagement with Muslims is possible.

Yet Benedict is also well aware that Islamic radicalism tends to discredit religious commitment in any form by associating it with violence and fanaticism. Hence, when Benedict presses Muslims to reject terrorism and to embrace religious liberty, he believes himself to be doing so not as a xenophobe or a crusader but as a friend of Islam, pressing it to realize the best version of itself.

That, no doubt, will be part of the argument he tries to make in Turkey.

If they could set aside their prejudices, at least some of the spiritual sons and daughters of Sayyid Qutb might well recognize a potential ally in Joseph Ratzinger — and therein lies perhaps the last, best hope for Muslim-Christian dialogue under Benedict XVI.


Thousands protest in Turkey ahead of pope's visit
Many view trip as part of attempt to subdue muslim world

Compiled by Daily Star staff
Monday, November 27, 2006

Chanting Islamist slogans and brandishing banners against Western intervention in the Middle East, thousands of people rallied in Istanbul Sunday to denounce the visit to Turkey by Pope Benedict XVI, which starts on Tuesday.

The demonstration, organized by the Islamist Felicity Party (SP) and entitled "The pope is not welcome," attracted at least 15,000 people, far below the 300,000 to 1 million that activists had predicted.

Hundreds of security forces, including riot police, were on watch at the Caglayan square in central Istanbul.

The mix of religious and political slogans the protesters shouted reflected widespread suspicions among nationalists and Islamists here that the landmark four-day visit is part of Western designs to subdue the Muslim world, rather than an effort to reconcile religions.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church triggered uproar across Muslim countries in September when in a speech he linked Islam and violence in quoting a Byzantine emperor who said the Prophet Mohammad brought "things only evil and inhuman."

"Show respect to the Prophet, pope!" one placard at the rally said. Others read: "Ignorant pope, read your own history!" and "Papa, go home!"

"Allahu Akbar," the protesters chanted, followed by others shouting "Down with Israel" and "Down with America."

Under photographs of Iraq war victims, one banner asked: "Who did this?"

Another read: "Who is responsible for terrorism: the US, Israel and the EU, or Iraq and the Palestinians?"

Many brandished banners that read: "No to the crusaders' alliance" - a slogan endorsed by the SP for the demonstration.

Opponents of the papal visit say the pontiff's scheduled talks with Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians, is aimed not only at healing the centuries-old schism between the two churches, but at sealing a Christian alliance against Islam.

The rally highlighted another sensitivity the pope's program has touched here - his planned visit to Hagia Sophia, a sixth-century Byzantine church which was converted to a mosque in 1453 when the Ottomans conquered Istanbul, then called Constantinople. It was transformed into a museum in 1935.

"Break the chains, open Hagia Sophia," the protesters chanted, echoing Islamist desire for the edifice to be re-opened as a mosque.

Benedict said Sunday he wanted the visit to show his "esteem and sincere friendship" for the country and its people.

He asked thousands of people in St. Peter's Square to pray for the success of the trip, which has become very delicate not only because of his comments on Islam but also his questioning of Turkey's eligibility for European Union membership.

"Starting right now, I want to send a cordial greeting to the dear Turkish people, rich in history and culture. To these people and their representatives I express feelings of esteem and sincere friendship," he said.

Benedict will also visit Istanbul's famous Blue Mosque during his trip, the Vatican said Sunday. The visit will be his first to a mosque as pope.

His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, made the first visit by a pontiff to a mosque during a trip to Damascus in 2001.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Sunday more police will protect Benedict during his visit than were deployed for US President George W. Bush.

"The security measures being taken for the pope in Turkey are higher than those taken for George W. Bush," Gul said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. Bush visited in 2004 for a NATO summit.

"There will be no incidents. We cannot forget what happened in St. Peter's Square in 1981. Unfortunately it was a Turkish citizen who fired at John Paul II," Gul said, in reference to Mehmet Agca's attempted assassination of the former pope.

Rooftop snipers will be among the 12,000 police deployed in Istanbul and the neighborhood hosting the pope will be locked down. - Agencies
http://www.dailystar.com.lb


Pope flies into a Turkish cauldron

The Sunday Times November 26, 2006

WITH his thick black moustache he looks a bit like Borat, the Kazakh journalist in the hit Hollywood film, but Kemal Kerincsiz, a lawyer, is far from comical when he inveighs against enemies of the Turkish state.

The latest target of his displeasure is Pope Benedict XVI. Kerincsiz has led an energetic campaign to halt the visit of the 79-year-old pontiff, arriving on Tuesday, on the grounds that it is part of a “foreign plot” against Turkey. Not only had the Pope insulted Islam in a speech he made in September, Kerincsiz said, but he was planning a “provocative” meeting in Istanbul with the head of Orthodox Christianity. “We do not want him here. He should not come.”

Behind him on his office wall was a poster of the Pope as a fanged serpent which Kerincsiz has been handing out to supporters. He has also been bombarding government offices with “Stop the Pope” e-mails and faxes. Today he will attend a big demonstration against the Pope in Istanbul.

The Pope could hardly have picked a trickier moment for his visit, just as debate is reaching a bitter climax over whether to let Turkey and its 70m, predominantly Muslim, citizens into the European Union.

America and Britain are strongly in favour of keeping Turkey firmly in the western fold but Kerincsiz and his Lawyers’ Union are part of a nationalist movement trying to pull it in the other direction. Recent events, from the Pope’s comments about Islam to French efforts to outlaw denial of the Turkish massacre of Armenians at the end of the first world war, have worked in their favour.

The ultimate goal is to revive the Ottoman empire but, for the time being, they must content themselves with a campaign to defend Turkey against enemies.

It was Kerincsiz who brought a lawsuit against Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel prize-winning author, earlier this year for accusing Turkey of genocide against Armenians. “The Armenians were deported, not killed,” he insisted.

All of this risks jeopardising the country’s drive to modernity and it is little surprise that talks with the EU on Turkish membership have recently turned sour.

An increasingly impatient Brussels has repeatedly called on Turkey to repeal article 301, the law being used by Kerincsiz to attack freedom of speech. On Thursday, in a development unlikely to cheer the Pope, two Christians went on trial under article 301 for insulting “Turkishness” and inciting religious hatred while trying to convert Turks to Christianity.

Brussels has given Turkey until December 6 to let Cypriot ships into its ports or risk seeing its application for EU membership rejected. This has put Turks in an angry sulk over the “crusader mentality” of the Europeans, hardly an encouraging context for a papal visit.

The Pope once warned that letting Turkey into the EU would be “a grave error against the tide of history” and he has become, for many, a symbol of western hostility towards Turkey.

For Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the moderate prime minister, it is an extremely unwelcome predicament. An election is looming next year and in order not to alienate voters he has pleaded a prior engagement — a Nato summit in Riga — to avoid going anywhere near the Pope.

Muslim protests against the pontiff will not go down well in Brussels, reviving perennial speculation about the threat to the strong, secular democracy established by Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey.

A draconian security plan involving 12,000 policemen is being implemented in Istanbul to prevent any violent backlash against the Pope. Snipers will be posted on rooftops. Sewers will be searched for bombs.

The authorities are right to be nervous. There has been a string of attacks against Christian clergymen since the Pope’s speech in September when he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine leader as saying that the Muslims had spread their faith “by the sword” and brought things “only evil and inhuman”.

Earlier this month, a man fired a pistol in the air outside the Italian consulate in Istanbul, shouting slogans against the Pope, whose predecessor, John Paul II, was shot in the stomach by a Turkish assailant in Rome.

On Wednesday, tourists were removed by police from the 6th-century Byzantine Hagia Sophia Church, a famous Istanbul landmark, when about 100 nationalists staged an anti-Pope protest. The church was converted into a mosque when the Ottomans conquered the city — Constantinople, as it was known — in 1453, but is now a museum and one of the venues on the papal itinerary.

 
For today’s demonstration, an Islamist party is planning to ferry around 75,000 people on buses into Istanbul. Kerincsiz said his group was planning to stage other protests during the visit but did not support violence.

Not yet at least. Instead of membership of the EU, he advocates restoration of a Turkic empire stretching from former Ottoman provinces in the Balkans right up into Central Asia. Achieving this would presumably involve a certain amount of swordplay.

It matters little to him that Atatürk, his hero whose portrait hangs in his office, was in favour of westernisation, urging his citizens to waltz and wear western clothes and introducing a Roman alphabet and Swiss penal code. “Being in the EU, we would not be able to restore our empire,” said Kerincsiz.

He is helped by growing frustration over sacrifices being demanded by Brussels. A poll last week showed that 60% were in favour of halting talks with the EU. “The attitude seems to be that if you don’t want us, we certainly don’t want you,” said a western diplomat. “Turkey feels terribly unloved.”

Turks are notoriously sensitive about how they are seen in the West. It explains what happened in Washington last week when one of Turkey’s top army generals stormed out of the White House in protest after guards tried to frisk him before a meeting.

Try bargaining in Istanbul and see what happens. “Do you think that you can pay what you like just because we are in Turkey and not in London?” complained an irate shop owner when a tourist offered less than what seemed an exorbitant amount for a ceramic pot.

Because of the prospect, albeit distant, of becoming part of the EU, the economy is booming — it attracts more foreign investment than any other Mediterranean country — and by reducing the political role of the army and curbing abuses of human rights Turkey has taken big steps towards Europe. Yet in Turkish eyes, Europe keeps asking for more: “We will never satisfy them,” said Cengiz Bilgin, a teacher. “It is clear they don’t really want us in their club.”

The argument appears to be gaining ground and the growth of Kerincsiz’s group to 800 members in Istanbul alone over the past few years suggests that he may have a future.

Call for and to anti-Christian laws

The Pope will stand up for Christian minority rights on his visit to Turkey this week, writes Christopher Morgan. According to advisers, he will call for an end to Turkey’s anti-Christian discrimination laws that make it difficult for churches to own property and run seminaries. Cardinal Walter Kasper said: “The treatment of Christian minorities will have to be sorted out if Turkey is to join the European Union.” Under EU pressure, Turkey passed a law this month strengthening Christian churches’ property rights, but Orthodox leaders say this is not enough.


Turkey mobilizing to protect pope

When Pope Benedict XVI comes to Turkey next week, he will be protected by a heavy security operation amid fears the visit may set off a renewed wave of anger over his recent comments linking Islam to violence.

Turkey, which is striving to show that it is a modern nation ready to join the European Union, is trying to make sure the visit passes without a hitch. A huge force of snipers, bomb disposal experts, riot police and anti-terrorism agents will be deployed at each of Benedict's stops.

Police helicopters will hover above the cities of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir during the visit next Tuesday through Friday, and navy commandos with machine guns will patrol the Bosporus in inflatable boats.

Benedict's first trip to a Muslim nation comes at a time of heightened tensions between the West and Islam. And it is the pope himself who has recently been at the center of those tensions.

The Muslim world erupted in protest after Benedict delivered a speech in September in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."

The controversy died down after the pope expressed regret for causing offense, but there are concerns that festering resentments may be reignited by Benedict's visit to Turkey.

On Wednesday, the police detained about 40 members of a Turkish nationalist party who had occupied one of Istanbul's most famous buildings, the Hagia Sophia, to protest the papal visit.

The demonstrators belonging to the Great Unity Party entered the former Byzantine church and mosque, shouting "Allahu akbar!" - "God is great!" - and then knelt to pray.

They also shouted a warning to Benedict: "Pope, don't make a mistake, don't wear out our patience."

When the group refused to surrender, a police officer used pepper spray on them.

The protesters were rounded up and loaded into police buses that took them to a nearby station for questioning, the police said.

Benedict is scheduled to tour the Hagia Sophia, which is a source of religious sensitivity in Turkey. It was one of the world's greatest Christian churches for more than 1,000 years, but was converted into a mosque after the conquest of Istanbul by Ottoman Turks in 1453. Today, the Hagia Sophia is a museum, and public religious ceremonies inside are forbidden.

On Nov. 2, a man fired shots outside the Italian Consulate in Istanbul to protest Benedict's visit, shouting that he would strangle the pope.

The man was arrested, but the incident revived memories of the 1981 assassination attempt on the Pope John Paul II by a Turkish gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca, in Rome.

Agca, who has said he wants to be released from jail and meet Benedict during his visit, previously warned that the pope's life would be in danger if he came to Turkey.

The authorities, who anticipate large protests in the streets, plan to close several areas of central Istanbul to traffic and are preparing lists of residents living in those neighborhoods.

"If this trip would have occurred under normal conditions, then these lands, the center of tolerance and love, would show the necessary hospitality to him," said a statement from the opposition pro-Islamic Felicity Party, which is calling for a protest against the pope's visit on Sunday in Istanbul.

"But we don't want to see him on our soil because of the remarks he made about Islam's Prophet Muhammad on Sept. 12 and for not apologizing afterward."

Turkish security forces have had extensive experience in protecting world leaders, including Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The military is one of the most powerful institutions in the nation, a highly trained force that enjoys widespread admiration.

Still, senior anti-terrorism police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said they were concerned that some protests of the pope's visit could become violent.

Several radical Islamic groups are active in Turkey, including local elements of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, Al Qaeda.

The group was blamed for the killings of 58 people in a wave of suicide bombings against synagogues and British interests in Istanbul three years ago.

About 70 suspected Qaeda operatives who were implicated in the attacks are on trial.

Bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, has compared the pontiff to Pope Urban II, who in 1095 ordered the First Crusade to establish Christian control in the Holy Land.

Anger at the West was growing in Turkey even before the pope's comments.

A Turkish teenager shot and killed a Catholic priest, the Reverend Andrea Santoro, as he knelt in prayer inside his church on Feb. 5 in the Black Sea port city of Trabzon.

After the killing of Santoro, two more Catholic clerics were assaulted in Turkey.

The attacks were believed to be related to widespread anger in the Islamic world over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of Muhammad.


Pope's focus in Turkey not Islam but Christian unity
Fri Nov 24, 2006 8:46 AM ET

By Gareth Jones

ANKARA (Reuters) - You would never know it from the newspaper headlines, but the main focus of Pope Benedict's visit to Muslim Turkey next week is to promote Roman Catholic ties not with Islam but with the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians.

While the world's media focus on simmering Muslim-Christian tensions after Benedict's remarks on Islam, the heart of his trip will be the search for elusive Christian unity with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul.

"It is profoundly symbolic when the world's two pre-eminent Christian leaders meet ... This will be a historic visit in the life of the Church," Thomas FitzGerald, dean at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, told Reuters by telephone.

The Pope's November 28-December 1 visit is timed to coincide with the feast of Saint Andrew, one of the 12 apostles who is said to have preached in what is now Istanbul after Christ's death.

Theologians say Benedict and Bartholomew, faced with an increasingly hostile secularism in Europe and the challenge of Islamic militancy worldwide, will find plenty to agree on.

But no breakthroughs are expected on the issues that split their churches 1,000 years ago such as the authority of the pope and the nature of the Holy Spirit.

And some Orthodox, especially in Russia, home to more than half the world's Orthodox Christians, question Bartholomew's right to speak on their behalf with the Pope.

"The Pope's visit is an expression of the desire for unity, but it is not easy to resolve some of the issues dividing us," Archbishop Demetrius, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in the United States, told Reuters.

"With such a long history of separation, you cannot move in a big jump. You need a methodical, step-by-step approach," said Demetrius, who will be in Istanbul for the papal visit.

BUILDING BRIDGES

Benedict, though disliked by many Muslims who say passages in a lecture he gave recently were offensive to Islam, is widely respected by Orthodox Christians as a learned theologian genuinely interested in building bridges with their church.

Unlike the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians lack a single leader and maintain a loose family of national churches, based mostly in Russia, Greece and the Balkans, with diaspora churches scattered around the world.

Bartholomew is "first among equals", the church's senior bishop by ancient tradition and based in Istanbul, the former Constantinople which was capital of the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire for centuries before falling to Muslim Turks in 1453.

Moscow, which has seen itself as the "third Rome", the legitimate successor to Rome and Constantinople, almost since the fall of Byzantium, is proudly independent and reserves the right to speak to the Pope directly, not via Bartholomew.

Since the fall of atheistic Soviet communism, the Moscow Patriarchate has experienced a big revival at home and has also become more assertive overseas, for example renewing ties with its exiled brethren in the Russian Church in the United States.

"I believe that, alongside contacts with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, it is equally important for the Roman Catholic Church to develop bilateral relations with the other Orthodox churches, notably with the Russian Orthodox Church," said Hilarion Alfeyev, Russian Orthodox bishop of Vienna.

"But one must be pragmatic and recognize it will probably take decades, if not centuries, before unity is restored," Hilarion, his church's main representative in Europe, told the Zenit news agency.

Bartholomew's jurisdiction is not limited to the dwindling community of Greek Orthodox Christians left in Turkey but also embraces the diaspora churches of western Europe, the Americas, Oceania and the Far East.

Bartholomew, an ethnic Greek but Turkish citizen, is expected to seek the Pope's support in his efforts to persuade Turkey to ease restrictions on Christians here, especially on the training of clergy.

"Hopefully the irenic (pacific) spirit of the two leaders will encourage Turkish leaders to recognize the rights of their minority Christians," said FitzGerald.

Bartholomew will also press the case for allowing Turkey to join the European Union, arguing it will help avoid a "clash of civilisations" between the Christian and Islamic worlds.

Before becoming Pope, Benedict annoyed Ankara by speaking out against Turkey's EU bid, saying its religion and culture would prevent it fitting into the mainly Christian bloc.


Receiving a warm welcome, pope extends EU support

‘We are not political, but we wish for Turkey to join the EU,’ Erdoğan quotes Pope Benedict as telling him. It is the first time that the pontiff expresses support for Turkey’s EU bid, which he once strongly opposed as ‘a grave error’

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
  Nov. 29, 2006

Receiving a warm welcome, pope extends EU support

  On the first day of a historic visit by Pope Benedict XVI to the Turkish capital, the pontiff and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan traded conciliatory gestures as both of them sought to calm the storm unleashed when the pontiff appeared to link Islam to violence.

  Erdoğan, who was accused for weeks of snubbing the pope for refusing until the last minute to meet with him during his four-day visit to Turkey, personally greeted the pontiff as he stepped off his airplane at Ankara's Esenboğa Airport -- a kind of greeting that was interpreted as a major diplomatic gesture and an unusual break with protocol.

  The pope's reply was timely when he for the first time expressed support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union, which he had strongly opposed as “a grave error” when still Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.

  “I asked for his support on the road to EU membership. He said, ‘We are not political, but we wish for Turkey to join the EU',” Erdoğan told reporters after a 20-minute meeting with the pope. Following his meeting with Erdoğan at the airport, the pope visited the mausoleum of the modern Turkish Republic's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

  Later, he met with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who chose to implement a simple state protocol for the pope. The pontiff later visited Ali Bardakoğlu, the head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate, who had harsh words for him after his Sept. 12 remarks on Islam in Regensburg, Germany. The visit took place at Bardakoğlu's office, in line with the Turkish side's preference instead of a meeting at the Vatican Embassy in Ankara.


SPIEGEL ONLINE - November 24, 2006, 05:03 PM
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,450598,00.html

THE POPE IN TURKEY

"An Attack on the Pillars of Islam"

Ali Bardakoglu, 54, is Turkey's highest Muslim dignitary. SPIEGEL spoke to him about Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey next week and the reactions to the pontiff's Regensburg speech, widely noted for its criticism of Islam.

SPIEGEL: It's been 27 years since since a pope last visited Turkey, a Muslim country. What does the visit mean for your country?

Bardakoglu: Whenever a religious leader visits other countries, it means that religious leader is ready to engage in dialogue. That's important. If we want to get a grip on the world's problems, we have to speak to each other. Our problems don't originate in the religions themselves. The leaders can help ensure that people from various cultures develop an understanding for one another.

SPIEGEL: The pope is visiting you too. You've strongly criticized his Regensburg speech.

Bardakoglu: The pope's speech wasn't a critique. It turned against fundamentally sacred elements of Islam in a condemning manner. In this sense, it was flawed. It shouldn't have been that way, as the pope himself later came to understand.

SPIEGEL: Why does the Muslim world react to criticism so intensely?

Bardakoglu: We're always open to criticism. We also criticize ourselves when necessary. Islam and rationality very much go together. We're prepared to engage in an intellectual discussion about the relationship between faith and reason, religion and violence. We would also have a lot to say to Christians about this topic.

SPIEGEL: What was wrong with the speech?

Bardakoglu: It was an attack, strongly colored by prejudice, on the three pillars of Islam: faith, the Koran and the prophet Muhammad -- without any reference to a specific event from the history of Islam. Whoever portrays the Koran and the prophet as the causes of the problems hasn't understood Islam.

SPIEGEL: You spoke of the Pope having "hatred in his heart" and accused him of cultivating a way of thinking that resembles that of the crusaders.

Bardakoglu: A person who says the prophet is the source of violence, and that the Koran is the cause of the aberrations, isn't formulating criticism but rather condemning and insulting Islam. The fact that the speaker is merely repeating a quotation does not diminish the mistake.

SPIEGEL: Why doesn't the West understand the reactions in the Muslim world, in your opinion?

Bardakoglu: People's relationship to God, to the Bible, to Jesus isn't as strong in the West as it is in Islam. That's why the reactions triggered here are altogether different. The West makes the mistake of taking the relationships of its faithful to holy institutions as a benchmark, comparing them to Islam.

SPIEGEL: What would make dialogue easier?

Bardakoglu: Mutual respect. We have a principle in Islam that requires us not to talk about another religion or a religious leader in an insulting way. We also take action when Jesus is insulted, whom we consider an important prophet.

SPIEGEL: But there are attacks on Christians and on Christianity in the Muslim world, including in Turkey.

Bardakoglu: People with little knowledge, and sometimes with little self-confidence, don't engage in theological debate; instead, they choose the simple option of attacking another religion. That's dangerous, and we condemn it. We always call on people to react moderately, never violently. But some people's exaggerated reactions are also instrumentalized by those who want to fuel Islamophobia.

SPIEGEL: Do you want to bring up the Regensburg speech again?

Bardakoglu: I want to look forward. If the Pope doesn't raise the issue himself, I won't refer to it.


El Papa oficiará su primera misa en Turquía durante la segunda jornada de su visita

Benedicto XVI, bajo una gran bandera turca, en la embajada del Vaticano en Ankara. (Foto: REUTERS)
Ampliar foto

Benedicto XVI, bajo una gran bandera turca, en la embajada del Vaticano en Ankara. (Foto: REUTERS)

Actualizado miércoles 29/11/2006 

ELMUNDO.ES

MADRID.- La segunda jornada de la visita de Benedicto XVI a Turquía llevará al Pontífice, a primera hora de la mañana, a Efeso, donde dará una misa en la casa de la Virgen María, en la que, según la tradición, vivió los últimos años de su vida y murió la madre de Jesús.

El resto del día, según su agenda oficial, lo pasará en Estambul, donde visitará la Iglesia Patriarcal de San Jorge y mantendrá un encuentro privado con el Patriarca Ecuménico Bartolomé I, líder espiritual de los cristianos ortodoxos de todo el mundo.

Antes de dejar Ankara, a donde llegó ayer, el Papa expresó su agradecimiento al ministro de Estado turco, Besir Atalay, por la visita "muy positiva" que ha realizado en Ankara. "Las reuniones que he mantenido con el primer ministro y el Presidente han sido muy importantes y positivas", afirmó el Papa.

El principal objetivo del periplo papal es reforzar el diálogo ecuménico e interreligioso. Por su parte, Bartolomé I ha señalado que espera al Papa con "amor fraternal" y ha mostrado su esperanza de que el Pontífice hable a favor de todos los católicos que viven en Turquía y de todas las minorías religiosas.

En su primera jornada en Turquía, el Papa tuvo un día completo. Se encontró durante apenas 20 minutos con el primer ministro, Recep Tayiip Erdogan, y con el presidente, Ahmet Necdet Sezer. De ambos encuentros, el que más contenido político tuvo fue el mantenido con Erdogan, a quien el Pontífice expresó su deseo de que Turquía entre en la UE.

Benedicto XVI también visitó el mausoleo de Ataturk donde, en el libro de visitas, deseo "Paz en patria, paz en el mundo". Más tarde, tras entrevistarse con el responsable de Asuntos Religiosos y muftí de Turquía, Ali Bardakoglu, pidió un "diálogo verdadero" entre musulmanes y cristianos que "respete las diferencias y reconozca las cosas en común".

'Oportunidad para la reconciliación'

Antes de salir de Roma, el Papa aseguró que "la oportunidad de esta visita es fomentar el diálogo, la hermandad, el compromiso para un mejor entendimiento entre culturas, entre religiones, para la reconciliación". También comentó que la visita "no es un viaje político, sino pastoral".

El Pontífice ha llegado a Turquía invitado por el presidente el país, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, con intenciones principalmente pastorales. Sin embargo, el viaje ha cobrado un importante contenido político tras el polémico discurso del Pontífice en Ratisbona.

Turquía fue uno de los países donde más se criticaron estas declaraciones realizadas el septiembre pasado, en las que identificó indirectamente el Islam con la violencia. Después, el Papa "lamentó" en repetidas ocasiones que su discurso hubiera 'podido ofender la sensibilidad de los musulmanes'.

Pese a ello, el pasado domingo miles de personas se concentraron en la céntrica plaza Caglayan de Estambul para protestar contra la visita del Papa. Por ello, Turquía he decidido llevar a cabo un despliegue de seguridad que contará con más de 16.000 policías.


Ankara da la espalda a Benedicto XVI

Los habitantes de la capital turca sólo aprecian molestias ante la visita del Pontífice

JUAN CARLOS SANZ (ENVIADO ESPECIAL) - Ankara - 29/11/2006  www.elpais.es 

La ceremoniosa cortesía otomana y la sutil diplomacia vaticana eludieron finalmente el choque de civilizaciones. El Papa llegó ayer a Ankara con un mensaje de apaciguamiento: habló de diálogo, tendió puentes entre religiones y alabó la figura de Mustafá Kemal, Atatürk, ante su tumba. El primer ministro turco, el islamista moderado Recep Tayyip Erdogan, le esperó a pie de escalerilla. Pero mientras la Turquía oficial dio la bienvenida a Joseph Ratzinger, en una etapa más de su tortuoso acercamiento hacia Europa, la capital turca le daba la espalda. La indiferencia en las calles hacia la visita de Benedicto XVI se expresó en el habitual ajetreo de la población de Ankara, absorta en sus quehaceres mientras la circulación se colapsaba en el bulevar de Atatürk, el eje que atraviesa la capital turca de norte a sur.

Con las negociaciones con la UE al borde del colapso a causa del contencioso sobre Chipre, el Gobierno de Ankara es consciente de que no puede permitirse desplantes hacia la figura del pontífice, cuya visita a Turquía es observada con atención por los países occidentales. Así lo destacó el ministro portavoz del Gobierno, Cemil Ciçek, la víspera de la visita papal.

"Musulmanes y cristianos compartimos los mismos profetas... sin olvidar la tradicional hospitalidad turca", no se ha cansado de repetir Erdogan ante sus seguidores para justificar su decisión de dar marcha atrás y recibir al Papa en el aeropuerto a su llegada a Turquía. Muchos analistas temen que su fotografía de ayer con el Papa acabe por pasarle factura en las elecciones legislativas del año que viene.

Las islamistas más radicales, que no se integraron en el partido reformista y proeuropeo en el poder y que condenan al Papa por sus palabras sobre el islam en Alemania, y la extrema derecha, que ve en la figura del Papa una amenaza a la identidad nacional y religiosa de Turquía, conforman el frente de rechazo a Benedicto XVI. En conjunto, sus opciones políticas sumarían el 10% de los votos.

Para la mayoría de los habitantes de Ankara la visita papal representa ante todo molestias. "Apenas se ha notado un empeoramiento en el tráfico", bromeaba entre risas una empleada en un comercio de Kizilay, la plaza donde palpita el corazón de la ciudad, "pero hay mucha más policía que de costumbre".

Las fuerzas de seguridad no tuvieron trabajo. A primera hora de la mañana cortaron la circulación en los 35 kilómetros que separan el aeropuerto de Esenboga del centro de la capital. Los túneles y puentes fueron tomados por gendarmes en uniforme de combate hasta después del paso de la comitiva papal. Un blindado de transporte de tropas y un vehículo antidisturbios dotado con un cañón de agua y una aparatosa pala excavadora presidían el centro de la plaza de Kizilay. Mientras, en los cercanos jardines de la sede de la jefatura del Gobierno, varias docenas de policías bostezaban en formación, con los escudos antidisturbios apoyados en el suelo tras largas horas de guardia.

"Nosotros vemos la visita del Papa sobre todo como un reencuentro entre cristianos divididos: los católicos y los ortodoxos", explicaba un joven profesor de la Universidad de Ankara entre alumnos que charlaban al sol del mediodía sin prestar atención a la visita del Papa. "Claro que Benedicto XVI tiene también una gran oportunidad para reconciliarse con los musulmanes tras sus críticas al islam en Ratisbona".

Los grupos más extremistas han advertido a Benedicto XVI que no debe atreverse a rezar mañana en el Museo de Santa Sofía, construida como basílica bizantina y que fue mezquita hasta 1935. Hoy es una de las principales atracciones turísticas de Estambul y las autoridades temen que los integristas musulmanes reclamen su reapertura al culto. El Papa llegará esta noche a Estambul tras celebrar una misa en Éfeso, en la costa mediterránea.

Cerca de la plaza de Kizilay, el poeta Ertugrul Onalp, catedrático de Lengua Española en la Facultad de Letras de Ankara, se mostraba sorprendido por tanta tensión religiosa en un Estado laico y citaba al escritor valenciano Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, que viajó a Estambul en 1907 y dejó escrito en su libro de viajes El Oriente un canto a la libertad religiosa bajo el Imperio Otomano: "En Constantinopla viven todos los cultos con entera libertad y todos sus ministros gozan de igual respeto. El patriarca griego, el gran rabino, el arzobispo católico... todos son funcionarios del imperio, iguales en respeto al gran imán y retribuidos por el emperador con gran largueza según el número de adeptos de cada religión".


Condoleezza Rice alaba la Alianza de Civilizaciones en una carta enviada a Moratinos

La secretaria de Estado de EE UU espera apoyar proyectos concretos "compatibles" con sus objetivos en Oriente Próximo

ELPAIS.es - Madrid - 16/02/2006

La secretaria de Estado de EE UU, Condoleezza Rice, ha alabado la Alianza de Civilizaciones impulsada por el presidente del Gobierno, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, en una carta dirigida al ministro de Exteriores, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, y difundida por la SER. En la misiva, Rice asegura que la iniciativa “promete facilitar un mayor entendimiento y promover una reforma democrática, paz y estabilidad más amplias en Oriente Medio”.

La jefa de la diplomacia estadounidense asegura haber recibido “informes esperanzadores” sobre la reunión del grupo de expertos de Alto Nivel designado por el secretario general de la ONU, Kofi Annan, y espera “apoyar proyectos de alianzas concretas” aunque siempre “compatibles con nuestros propios objetivos para la región”.

En concreto, cita algunos proyectos que su país estaría dispuesto a apoyar, como un mayor entendimiento entre culturas, la promoción de “más comprensión de la cultura en las escuelas”, el desarrollo de vínculos entre universidades o grupos académicos, el desarrollo de las nuevas tecnologías e Internet y el desarrollo de conferencias y grupos de trabajo.

Además, sugiere que su país podría colaborar económicamente con el proyecto al afirmar que está pendiente de identificar programas específicos para que su país pueda “aportar su contribución”. “Espero colaborar con usted mientras continuamos este trabajo vital”, se despide.

Grupo de alto nivel

La idea de la Alianza de Civilizaciones fue presentada por Zapatero en un discurso en la sede de Naciones Unidas en septiembre de 2004 y desde el principio el Gobierno de EE UU mostró sus reticencias porque por chocaba contra la Guerra contra el terrorismo. Donde si caló la propuesta fue en Naciones Unidas. Su Secretario General, Kofi Annan, estableció un grupo de dieciocho personalidades (entre ellas el presidente iraní Mohammed Khatami, el Premio Nobel de la Paz de 1984 Desmond Tutu, el principal consejero real de Marruecos, André Azulay, y el director de la Unesco Federico Mayor Zaragoza) para impulsar el proyecto.

El pasado mes de noviembre Zapatero abrió en Palma de Mallorca la primera reunión de este grupo de alto nivel. Le acompañó en la capital balear Recep Tayyip Erdogan, el primer ministro de Turquía, que desde julio copatrocina la iniciativa en su calidad de representante del mundo islámico.

El pasado verano, en una entrevista publicada por el diario británico The Spectator el ex presidente del Gobierno español José María Aznar criticó duramente la iniciativa. "Eso es un enorme sinsentido. Mire, yo tuve una excelente interlocución con Mohamed Jatamí [ex presidente de Irán]. Una cosa es el diálogo entre civilizaciones, pero la Alianza de Civilizaciones... eso es estúpido", afirmó.


Benedicto XVI en Turquía; ecumenismo, no política
EDITORIAL  29.11.06

www.libertaddigital.com/opiniones/opi_desa_34635.html

Turquía es un país donde apenas hay cristianos. La comunidad armenia, esquilmada salvajemente en tiempos no tan lejanos, es la más numerosa –entre 40.000 y 70.000 miembros–, pero insignificante en una república que supera de largo los 70 millones de habitantes. Los ortodoxos no pasan de los 3.000 en el país que alberga la ciudad que antaño fue meca de la ortodoxia cristiana. Católicos romanos hay muy pocos, tan pocos que Benedicto XVI podría, si se lo propusiese, saludarlos a todos personalmente durante su viaje. Ésta, y no otra, es la verdadera dimensión de la gira papal de estos días por Turquía. El Sumo Pontífice no hace política, no sabe de política y no quiere inmiscuirse en los asuntos que no corresponden a su prelatura.

La visita del Santo Padre a esta minúscula iglesia católica y a las pequeñas comunidades de cristianos ortodoxos, armenios y sirio-caldeos es la razón por la que Benedicto XVI se ha embarcado en un viaje relativamente peligroso a un lugar donde no es bien recibido. El Gobierno turco se ha esforzado en hacérselo saber a su llegada. Una reunión de puro trámite de tan sólo veinte minutos y en una sala del aeropuerto. Erdogan ha forzado el encuentro en estas circunstancias tan ridículas para que el Papa sepa a qué atenerse en el país que se dispone a visitar y, en segunda instancia, para capitalizar políticamente la fotografía con Benedicto XVI. De ahí que, nada más salir de la reunión haya anunciado que el Pontífice apoya la entrada de Turquía en la Unión Europea.

Nada más lejos de las intenciones del Papa que, por descontado, ni apoya ni critica el ingreso del país asiático en la Europa de los 25. El Papa se preocupa de cuestiones que poco o nada tienen que ver con los trapicheos de los burócratas de Bruselas pero esto, que parece de cajón, cuesta hacérselo entender a los que siguen considerando al Papa un jefe de Estado como cualquier otro.

Tayyip Erdogan, sin embargo, está muy al tanto de que su proyecto de integrar a Turquía en la Unión requiere ciertas dosis de mano izquierda abandonando, aunque sea momentáneamente, el islamismo moderado que vende de puertas adentro, el mismo que en el pasado le llevó a formar parte de algunas formaciones islamistas turcas no tan moderadas. El otro caramelo con el que Erdogan juega se lo ha dado Rodríguez Zapatero y no es otro que la célebre Alianza de Civilizaciones, un ideologema gestado en Teherán y reelaborado en el gabinete de Moncloa.

Frente al encaje de bolillos que ensaya el Gobierno turco, el Sumo Pontífice ofrece ecumenismo cristiano y diálogo pacífico con el resto de religiones. Un mensaje nítido y sencillo consistente en la tolerancia mutua basada en el diálogo interreligioso y el respeto a la libertad de culto. Algo que, al menos a nuestro presidente, ha de sonarle a chino porque pocos gobiernos hay en Occidente tan hostiles al cristianismo –que no al Islam– como el de Zapatero. Muy lejos de la posición de Erdogan que, si bien defiende (sólo desde 1998) con una mano la separación de la iglesia y el estado, con la otra practica un islamismo descafeinado que se condensa en las declaraciones que hizo el año pasado asegurando que "el Islam es el cemento y el factor más importante que une a nuestro pueblo".

Los que postulan una sociedad laica en Turquía se hacen cruces con esta y otras muchas manifestaciones de su primer ministro. Benedicto XVI, el denostado y difamado Papa Ratzinger, apuesta exactamente por lo contrario. Apuesta por marcar una divisoria entre las esferas de la sociedad civil y la religión, algo a años luz de lo que se estila, si no en Turquía, sí en los países de Oriente Medio. El Papa tiene mucho que decir en Turquía, un país aventajado, en el mismo linde de Oriente y Occidente, puente de dos mundos cuyo único futuro deseable es evolucionar hacia este lado de la civilización.


Yurtta barış dünyada barış

Papa 16’ıncı Benedict’in havalimanından sonraki ilk durağı Anıtkabir oldu. Atatürk’ün mozolesine çelenk koyan Papa, dünyaya buradan barış mesajı verdi

29.11.2006 www.vatanim.com.tr 

Papa’nın, Esenboğa Havalimanı’nda Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ile gerçekleştirdiği görüşmenin ardından ilk durağı Anıtkabir oldu. Saat 14.10’da Anıtkabir’e ulaşan heyet üzerinde “Papa Benedict XVI” yazan kırmızı ve beyaz karanfillerden oluşan çelenkle avludan geçerek Büyük Önder Atatürk’ün mozolesine geldi. Papa, buraya çelenk koyarak dua etti. Ardından da Büyük Önder Atatürk’ün manevi huzurunda saygı duruşunda bulundu.

Papa 16. Benedict, daha sonra Misak-ı Milli Kulesi’ne geçerek, Anıtkabir Özel Defteri’ni de imzaladı. 16’ıncı Benedict, deftere şunları yazdı: “Farklı din ve kültürlerin buluştuğu, Asya ve Avrupa arasında bir köprü olan bu topraklarda Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin kurucusunun sözlerini kendi sözlerim gibi söylemekten memnuniyet duyuyorum: Yurtta barış, dünyada barış.”

Daha önceki Papa ne yazmıştı?
Türkiye’ye şimdiye kadar 3 Papa geldi.1967 yılında ilk defa Türkiye’ye gelen Papa 6. Paul, Ankara’ya gitmemiş, bu yüzden Anıtkabir’e ziyaret gerçekleşmemişti. 28 Kasım 1979’da Türkiye’ye gelen Papa 2. Jean Paul’un ise ilk durağı tıpkı Benedict gibi Ankara olmuştu. Jean Paul, Anıtkabir özel defterine Fransızca şu notu yazmıştı: “Halkların yönetimi Tanrı’nın elindedir. Tanrı onlara en uygun zamanda en yararlı önderlerini ortaya çıkarır. Zira bir milleti yücelten özgürlük aşkı ve insan haklarına saygıdır. Ancak geleceğinin güvence kaynağı gene Tanrı’dır.”

Papa’nın yanındaki iki kadın...
Biri Serra Yılmaz. Tiyatro ve sinema sanatçısı. Serra Yılmaz, İtalyanlar’ın da yakından tanıdığı bir isim. İtalyanca’yla birlikte Fransızca bilen, bu özelliği sayesinde simultane tercümanlık da yapan Yılmaz, Türk yönetmen Ferzan Özpetek’in “Harem Suare”, “Cahil Periler” ve “Karşı Pencere” filmlerinde etkili roller aldı. İtalyan filmseverlerin de büyük beğenisini kazandı. Saint Benoit Lisesi mezunu olan usta oyuncu Papa’nın yanından hiç ayrılmadı, 16’ıncı Benedictus’a tercümanlık yaptı.

Papa’yı dün gün boyu yaptığı resmi ziyaretlerde yalnız bırakmayan bir diğer isim ise Oya Tuzcuoğlu’ydu. Dışişleri Bakanlığı’nın Protokol Genel Müdürü olan Büyükelçi Tuzcuoğlu, Papa’nın ziyareti sırasında, bir ilke daha imza atarak başını örtmedi. Vatikan’ın uyguladığı protokol kuralları uyarınca Papa’yla karşılaşacak ve görüşecek kadınların “koyu renk, muhafazakar kesimli, sade giysiler giymeleri, kollarını açıkta bırakmamaları ve başlarını bir tülle örtmeleri” gerekiyor. Papa’yı Roma Havaaalanı’ndan uğurlayacak heyet arasında da Türkiye’nin Vatikan Büyükelçiliği Müsteşarı Deniz Kılıçer vardı.

Vatikan, THY uçuşunda hafif mönüyü tercih etti
Ankara Papa’yı ağırlarken, bugün geleceği İstanbul’da ise son hazırlıklar yapıldı. “Bush’tan sıkı korunacak” açıklamalarının ardından dün de görev yapacak güvenlik gücü sayısı belirtilmezken İstanbul Emniyet Müdürü Celaletin Cerrah “Rekor diyebiliriz. Ancak ara sokaklardaki görevlilere daha çok güveniyoruz” dedi.

Beraberindeki heyet ile birlikte Alitalia’ya ait özel uçakla Ankara’ya gelecek olan Papa’ya iç hat uçuşları için THY’den kiralanan özel uçak tahsis edildi. Papa 16’ncı Benedict’in Atatürk Havalimanı’na gelişinden 1.5 saat önce ve ayrılışından 1.5 saat sonrasına kadar havalimanının 5 millik bir alan (yaklaşık 10 km) içerisinde helikopter uçuşlarına yasak getirildi. Böylece konvoyun havadan görüntülenmesi de engellenmiş olacak.

ZEYTİNYAĞLI VE KURABİYE İSTEDİ
Vatikan yetkilileriyle görüşmelerini tamamlayan THY, iç hatlarda ekstra bir düzenlemeye gitmezken İstanbul-Vatikan uçuşunda hafif bir mönü tercih edildi. Taze mevsim meyveleri, zeytinyağlılar ve füme etin bulunduğu soğuk ordör tabağı, ıspanak ve peynirli börek, kruvasan, ekmek ve simit ile browni, tiramisu ile çikolatalı kurabiye ikram edilecek. Ayrıca uçuş sırasında çay, kahve ve alkollü-alkolsüz içecek servisi yapılacak.

Pasaport ve ruhsat hizmetleri verilemedi
Ankara Emniyet Müdürlüğü, Papa’nın gelişi dolayısıyla çalışma sistemini yeniden düzenledi. 3 bin polisin Papa’yı koruduğu başkentte Trafik Tescil Şube Müdürlüğü, Pasaport Şube Müdürlüğü ve Silah Ruhsat Şube Müdürlüğünde görev yapan memurlar da koruma tedbirleri çerçevesinde görevlendirildi. Dolayısıyla hizmet verilemedi. Bu şubelerde, sadece önceden başvuru sonucu işlemi tamamlanmış belgelerin teslimatı yapıldı.

TRT, sol kulağını izlettirdi
Ziyarati canlı yayınlamak üzere çekim yapma hakkına sahip tek kuruluş olan TRT, Papa’yı neredeyse izlettirmedi. Ekran başındaki izleyiciler çıldırdı. Papa’nın saygı duruşunda bulunması sırasında da ekranlara sadece görevli subayın sırtı yansıdı. Atatürk’ün mozolesi önünde duran Papa 16. Benediktus’un sadece sol kulağı izlenebildi. İzleyiciler Papa’nın Anıtkabir’den ayrılışını boş bir otoparka bakarak, muhabirin sesinden dinlemek zorunda kaldı.

’Tara’ kokladı özel tim korudu
Papa’nın gelişi öncesinde Esenboğa Havalimanı girişinde önce otomobillerin altları ve içlerinde arama yapıldı. Havaalanına girmesine izin verilen araçlar, yaklaşık 500 metre ileride oluşturulan ikinci bir arama noktasında tekrar kontrol edildi. Apronda özel harekat timleri görev alırken, havadan bir helikopter de güvenlik uçuşu yaptı. Papa’nın gelişini izlemek üzere havaalanına gelen gazetecilerin kamera ve diğer cihazları, “Tara” adında polis köpeğine koklatılarak, kontrol edildi.

Dünyanın gözü Türkiye’de
Ziyareti izlemek üzere yaklaşık 2 bin basın mensubu akredite oldu. Yüzlerce yabancı televizyon kanalı, Papa ziyaretini canlı yayınlıyor. Papa ile birlikte, 1000 civarında yabancı gazeteci de Türkiye’ye geldi. CNN, BBC, NBC, Sky News, USA Today gibi haber kanalları ziyareti flaş haber olarak duyurdu... Alman TV kanalları “N24” ve “N-TV”, Başbakan Erdoğan ile yaptığı görüşmeyi haber bül canlı olarak verdi.

Haber: Zeynep Gürcanlı, Hale Gönültaş, Ömür Ünver, Murat Gürgen
Foto: Ateş Tümer, Özer Şendir

Bardakoğlu, dünyaya mesaj verdi: İslamophobia tırmandırılıyor

Diyanet İşleri Başkanı Prof. Ali Bardakoğlu, Papa ile yaptığı görüşmede, tüm İslam dünyasında sert tepkiye yol açan Papa’nın Regensburg’taki sözlerine yanıt verdi ve “İslamiyet kılıçla yayılmadı” dedi

29.11.2006 www.vatanim.com.tr 

Papa 16. Benedict ile Diyanet İşleri Başkanı Ali Bardakoğlu Ankara’da 40 dakika görüştü. Kardinaller ve Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı üst düzey yetkililerinin de katıldığı görüşme sonrasında Papa ve Diyanet İşleri Başkanı, ortak bir açıklama yaptı. Bardakoğlu konuşmasına, ‘Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, tüm resullere selam ve salavat olsun’ diyerek başladı. Bardakoğlu, konuşmasında Papa’nın tüm Müslümanların tepkisini çeken sözlerine 4 başlık altında yanıt verdi:

İSLAM KILIÇLA YAYILMADI
Biz Müslümanlar, şiddet ve terörün her türlüsünü, kime karşı ve kim tarafından işlenirse işlensin, kınıyor ve onu insanlık suçu görüyoruz. Ne var ki, son dönemlerde İslam dininin tarihi ve kaynaklarıyla şiddeti içerip teşvik ettiği, İslam’ın yeryüzüne kılıçla yayıldığı, Müslümanların potansiyel şiddet uygulayıcıları olduğu anlayışını ifade eden ‘İslamophobia’nın giderek tırmandığını hep birlikte görüyoruz. Bilimsel ve tarihsel hiçbir araştırmaya dayanmayan, adalet ve insaf ölçüleriyle de bağdaşmayan bu itham ve iddialardan, adını barıştan alan İslam’ın her mensubunun son derece müteessir ve müşteki olduğunu ilan etmek isterim.

İSLAMİYET AKLI DIŞLAMAZ
Bizim dinimiz, kendisinden önceki ilahi dinlerin hakikatlerini kabul eder; peygamberler arasında ayrım yapmayı reddeder. İslam’ın temel esasları ve iç kategorileri, teorik ve pratik alanda aklı kıstas olarak belirlemiştir.

DİN ADAMLARI YARGILAMAMALI
Farklı din ve inanç mensupları, birbirlerinin dinlerini onaylamaya ve yargılamaya gerek duymaksızın, bir araya gelerek konuşabilmeli ve in-sanlığın karşı karşıya olduğu sorunların çözümünde ortaklaşa gayret gösterebilmelidir. Ayrıca hiç kimse bu ortak çabayı ve iletişim zeminini kendi dinine taraftar bulmak veya kendi din mensuplarının önünü açmak için bir araç olarak da kullanmamalıdır. Dini liderler, inançlarını üstün gösterme gayretine girmeden insanlığın sorunlarına çözüm aramalıdır.

TARİHİ KORKULARIN ESİRİ OLMAYIN
Ön yargıların, önemli ölçüde tarihsel korku ve kaygılardan besleniyor. Özellikle biz dini liderlerin ve dini kurumların bu korku ve kaygılara dayalı ön yargıların esiri olmaması ve sağduyulu davranması, evrensel barış ve huzurun tesisinde esastır.

UYUŞTURUCU VE ALKOL
“Dünyamız, aile değerlerinde hızla gerilemenin; başta uyuşturucu, fuhuş ve alkol olmak üzere zararlı alışkanlıklar ve salgın hastalıklar gibi birçok tehlikenin tehdidi altındadır. Bunlarla mücadelede, inanç ve dini terbiyenin önemli bir rolü vardır.”

 


Haçsız sefer

Papa 16'ncı Benedict, Türkiye'ye ayak basarken ve Anıtkabir'e çıkarken haçını sakladı, İslam'la barışma mesajları verdi.

Haç palto altında
Katoliklerin ruhani lideri Papa, Türkiye ziyaretine verdiği önemi ilk adımda gösterdi. Önceki Papa'nın tersine Benedict, haçını paltonun altından çıkarmadı. Papa, Erdoğan'la görüşmesinde İslam'dan çok olumlu ifadelerle söz etti.

Yurtta, Dünyada Barış
PAPA, yine haçını göstermeden çıktığı AnıtkabirPapa 16'ncı Benedict, Türkiye'ye ayak basarken ve Anıtkabir'e çıkarken haçını sakladı, İslam'la barışma mesajları verdi ziyaretinde Atatürk için dua etti ve özel deftere "Yurtta barış, dünyada barış" diye yazdı. Vatikan çevreleri Papa'nın haç göstermeme hassasiyetini doğrulayarak "Laik Cumhuriyet'in kurucusuna saygı olarak yaptı" dediler.

"Yüzde 95'i Müslüman"
Başbakan Erdoğan'ın Papa ile görüşmesinden sonra Türkiye için "Nüfusunun yüzde 95'i gibi bir oranı Müslüman ülke" demesi yeni polemik doğurdu. Şimdiye kadar hep "Yüzde 99'u Müslüman ülke" deniyordu.

Laiklik yeniden tanımlansın

Papa, Ankara yolunda laik Türkiye ve Avrupa yerine, geleneklere dayanan Hıristiyan Avrupa ile Müslüman Türkiye ilişkisinin yararına özel vurgu yaptı.

Vatikan'ın devlet başkanı Papa 16. Benedict'in Türkiye'ye yaptığı tarihi ziyaret dün başkent Ankara'da başladı. Papa, Roma Leonardo Da Vinci Havaalanı'ndan Türkiye saatiyle 10.00'da Alitalia'ya ait Airbus 321 ile hareket etti. Papa'ya beş kardinalin de yer aldığı 30 kişilik Vatikan delegasyonu ve 66 kişilik seçkin bir basın grubu eşlik etti. Aralarında CNN, CBS, Le Mondei, El Pais, AP, AFP gibi dünyanın önde gelen basın yayın organlarının seçilerek alındığı Papalık uçağında Türkiye'den bir tek SABAH yer aldı. Papa, bir kadın pilotun kullandığı Airbus 321'e hareket etmeden beş dakika önce bindi ve öncelikli gazetecilerin bulunduğu bölüme gelerek teşekkür etti. Papa seyahatin amacının "diyalog, kardeşlik, barışma, dinler ve kültürlerin buluşması için kültürler arası anlayış" olduğunu söyledi.

LAİKLİK VE LAİSİZM
Gazeteciler Papa'ya Türkiye seyahatiyle ilgili olarak önemli sorular yönelttiler. Papa kendisine yöneltilen sorular arasında en ilginç yanıtı "Avrupa ve Türkiye'de laiklik teması" üzerine verdi. Papa "sağlıklı laiklik" ve "laisizm" arasındaki farka dikkat çekerek "geleneksel değerlerin kamu alanından dışlanmasının doğru olmadığını" vurguladı. Hiçbir kağıda bakmadan konuşan Papa 16. Benedict "Avrupalı bir ulus olmak isteyen, gerilim ve umut dolu bir ülkeye gidiyorsunuz. Avrupa Türkiye'ye yardım edebilir mi? Dini, kültürel kimliklere saygılı daha bilinçli bir entegrasyondan söz edilebilir mi?" sorusuna öncelikle Atatürk'ün modern Türkiye'yi kurarken model olarak Fransız Anayasası'nı aldığını hatırlatarak yanıt verdi. Papa "Modern Türkiye'nin orijininde Avrupa aklı, düşüncesi ve yaşam stili ile diyalog var" dedi. Ancak bu noktada 16. Benedict Avrupa ve Türkiye arasındaki din ve tarihi bağlar farkına da dikkat çekti.Uçaktaki tek Türk gazetecisi Yasemin Taşkın, 27 yıl önce Papa II. Jean Paulle Türkiyeye gelen Vatikanın önemli kardinallerinden Roger Etchegaray ile konuştu.Papa "Avrupa aklı ve Türk Müslüman geleneği arasındaki diyalog modern Türkiye'nin varoluşunda yazılı ve bu anlamda birbirimize karşı sorumluluklarımız var" dedi.

KAMUSAL ALAN
Papa konuşmalarında "laiklik" temasını dikkatle ele aldı. Avrupa'da "sağlıklı bir laiklik" ve "laisizm" tartışması olduğunu ve bunun Türkiye ile diyalogda önemli bulduğunu vurgulayan Papa, "Laisizm, kamu hayatını geleneklerin her birinden dışlayan bir anlayış, çıkışı olmayan bir sokaktır" dedi. Papa laikliğin yeniden tanımlanması gerektiği üstünde ısrarla durarak laikliğin temelinde dini değerlerin olması gerektiğini savundu. Kamu alanı ve din arasındaki fark, otonomi, tutarlılık ve ortak sorumluluğun altını çizen Papa bütün bunların altındaki değerlerin orijininin ise din olduğunu söyledi. Papa "Biz Avrupalılar bizim laik ve laisist aklımızı yeniden ele almalıyız. Türkiye'de kendi tarihinden, orijininden hareketle laiklik ve gelenek arasındaki bağı gelecek için nasıl inşa etmesi gerektiğini düşünmeli" dedi.

YENİ İTTİFAK ÖNERİSİ
Papa'nın Türkiye'de laiklik nasıl olmalı ve Avrupa laikliği üzerine düşünceleri uçaktaki basın mensuplarının ilginç yorumlarına yol açtı. Yabancı basında Papa'nın bu konuşması 16. Benedict'in geleneklere dayalı, Hıristiyan bir Avrupa'nın geleneksel Müslüman Türkiye ile diyalogunu, bugünkü anlamda laik Avrupa'nın laik Türkiye'yle diyaloguna tercih ettiği yorumlarına yol açtı. Avrupa'yı entegre bir Türkiye yerine kendi Müslüman kimliğini güçlendirmiş Türkiye'nin Avrupa'da çekirdek Hıristiyan ülkelerin yer alacağı birinci halkaya bağlı, ikinci bir halkada yer alması, Vatikan'ın Türkiye üzerine son günlerde yaptığı dış politik açılımlarına da uyuyor. Genel kanı Vatikan'ın Avrupa ve Türkiye'de yeni bir laiklik tanımı arayışı ile Türkiye'deki İslami çevrelere "yeni bir ittifak önerisi" getirdiği şeklinde yorumlanıyor.

YASEMİN TAŞKIN www.sabah.com.tr 


Papa’dan özür gibi sözler

29 Kasım 2006  www.hurriyet.com.tr 

Papa, Almanya’daki İslam’a yönelik eleştiriler içeren konuşmasının "Özrü" olarak kabul edilebilecek değerlendirmelerde bulundu.

Papa, "İslam barış dinidir. Özü akıl ve bilimle yoğrulmuştur. Bütün ilahi dinler gibi İslam da barış getirmiştir. Öğretileri de hem akli hem de barış temelleri üzerine kuruludur" dedi. Papa şunları söyledi:

MEMNUNUM

Benim için burada bulunmak, Türk halkının yaratıcılığına yakından tanıklık etmek büyük memnuniyettir. Dini tarihinize tanıklık etmek benim için memnuniyet verici.

RAB GÖNDERDİ

23. Yuhanna’nın İstanbul’da Papalık temsilcisi yerine getirirken duygularını şu sözlerle ifade etmişti: Ben Türkleri seviyorum, Rab beni onlara gönderdi. Bu halkın doğal niteliklerini takdir ediyorum. Bu toplumda medeniyetlerin kat ettiği yollarda bir yere sahiptir’. Ben de Türk Ulusunun nitelikli bir ulus, bir halk olduğunun altını çizmeyi arzuluyorum.

ORTAK YOL

Hıristiyanların ve Müslümanların her biri kendi dini geleneklerine göre İbrahim’e bağlı, tek Allah’a inanan ailenin fertleridir. Köklerimiz ve kaderimizle manevi insani bir birliğe sahip olan bizler çağımızın özelliği olan temel değerler arayışında, ortak yol bulmaya teşvik ediliyoruz.

İslamofobiden rahatsızız

DİYANET İşleri Başkanı Ali Bardakoğlu, Papa 16. Benedikt ile 30 dakika olarak planlanan ancak 40 dakika süren görüşmeden sonra ortak basın açıklamasında, dünyada giderek tırmanan İslamofobiye dikkat çekerek "Bundan rahatsızız" dedi. Bardakoğlu şunları söyledi:

TERÖRE KARŞIYIZ

Biz Müslümanlar, şiddet ve terörün her türlüsünü, kime karşı ve kim tarafından işlenirse işlensin, bir insanlık suçu olarak görüyoruz. Bizler, masum bir insanın kanını dökmeyi bütün insanları öldürme gibi ağır bir suç ve günah sayan bir dine mensubuz.

İSLAMOFOBİ TIRMANIYOR

Son dönemlerde İslam’ın şiddeti teşvik ettiği, yeryüzüne kılıçla yayıldığı, Müslümanların potansiyel şiddet uygulayıcıları olduğu anlayışını ifade eden İslamofobi’nin giderek tırmandığını hep birlikte müşahede ediyoruz.

ŞİKAYETÇİYİZ

Adalet ve insaf ölçüleriyle de bağdaşmayan bu itham ve iddialardan adını barıştan alan İslam’ın her mensubunun son derece müteessir ve müşteki olduğunu ilan etmek isterim.

Pasaportsuz giriş yaptı

ÜLKELER ÜSTÜ

Dini konumundan ötürü ülkeler üstü bir kişi kabul edilen Papa 16.Benedikt, diğer ülkelere olduğu gibi Türkiye’ye de pasaportsuz geldi. Eşlik eden din adamları ve diğer heyet üyeleri ise pasaportla girdi.

TRT YAYINI

Ziyaret dünyada TRT aracılığıyla izlendi. Ancak dünya, Anıtkabir’de Atatürk’ün mozolesi önünde saygı duruşunda bulunan ve dua eden Papa’nın görüntüsünü, TRT kamerasının yanlış açıda olması nedeniyle izleyemedi. Saygı duruşunda görüntüde, töreni yöneten asker ve onun ardında sadece kulağı görünen bir Papa ve heyet vardı.

EL CEZİRE VERDİ

Ziyaret, "Arap dünyasının CNN’i" olarak nitelendirilen El Cezire televizyonu da canlı olarak yayınladı. Alman özel televizyon kanalları "N24" ve "N-TV", havalimanındaki görüşmeyi canlı olarak verdi.

2065 GAZETECİ

Tarihi ziyareti izlemek için Ankara’dan 458, İstanbul’dan 477 ve İzmir’den 124, toplam 1059 yerli, Ankara’dan 344, İstanbul’dan 575 ve İzmir’den 16 toplam 935 yabancı gazeteci akredite oldu. Papayla birlikte de 71 gazeteci geldi.

EKÜMENİK PATRİK

Fener Rum Patrikhanesi, Papa’nın ziyaretiyle ilgili hazırladığı internet sitesi www.patriarchate.org da ve tüm yazılı dökümanlarda "Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch" (Konstantinopol ve Yeni Roma’nın Başpiskoposu Ekümenik Patrik) sıfatını kullandı.

Ayetli vazo

DİYANET İşleri Başkanı Prof. Dr. Ali Bardakoğlu, Papa 16. Benedikt ile gerçekleşen tarihi buluşmasında kendisine üzerinde "Allah yerin ve göklerin nurudur" ayeti kerimesi yazılı Paşabahçe koleksiyon serisinden bir vazo hediye etti. Yaklaşık 40 dakika süren görüşme sırasında Papa ise Bardakoğlu’na İtalya’nın Başkenti Roma’da bulunan ve Roma İmparatorluğu’nun en önemli yapıtları arasında sayılan collesiumun resmedildiği bir tablo hediye etti.

Olağanüstü koruma

PAPA için alınan güvenlik önlemleri, ABD Başkanı Bush’un gezisi ve 2004’teki NATO zirvesi sırasında alınan önlemleri aratmadı. Esenboğa girişinde otomobil didik didik arandı. İzin verilen araçlar, yaklaşık 500 metre sonra ikinci aramadan geçti. Apronda özel harekat timleri görev alırken, havadan bir helikopter de güvenlik uçuşu yaptı. Kamera ve diğer cihazlar, ’Tara’ adlı polis köpeğince kontrol edildi.


İslam barış ve akıl dini

29 Kasım 2006  www.hurriyet.com.tr 

Turan YILMAZ, Uğur ERGAN, Süleyman DEMİRKAN, Okan KONURALP, Arda AKIN - Fotoğraflar: Fahir ARIKAN, Selçuk ŞENYÜZ, Volkan YILDIRIM

Papa 16. Benedikt, daha önce büyük tepki çeken sözlerinin aksine "İslam barış dinidir. Akıl ve bilimle yoğrulmuştur" dedi. Türkiye’nin AB üyeliği konusunda mesafeli olan Papa, "Farklı medeniyetlerin, inanç ve kültürlerin birlikte yaşaması için Türkiye’yi AB ile birlikte görmek isteriz" diye konuştu. Başbakan Erdoğan’ın Trabzon’da öldürülen Rahip Santoro için başsağlığı dileğinde bulunması üzerine Papa şunları söyledi: "Münferit bir olay. Fanatizmin bir dine mal edilmesi yanlıştır."

PAPA 16. Benedikt, tarihi Türkiye ziyaretine AB jestiyle başladı. Kardinalken Türkiye’nin AB üyeliğine olumsuz bakışıyla tanınan Papa, hem Cumhurbaşkanı Ahmet Necdet Sezer, hem de Başbakan Tayyip Erdoğan’la yaptığı görüşmede, Türkiye’nin AB üyeliği konusunda bilinen tavrından farklı bir tutum sergiledi. Papa, Sezer’e "Türkiye’nin AB’de yeri vardır" derken, Erdoğan’a da "Farklı medeniyetlerin, inanç ve kültürlerin birlikte yaşaması için Türkiye’yi AB ile birlikte görmek isteriz" vurgusunu yaptı. Diyanet İşleri’ne yaptığı ziyarette, Almanya’daki İslam dünyasını ayağa kaldıran açıklamalarının "Özrü" olarak kabul edilebilecek değerlendirmelerde bulundu. İslamı, "Barış dini" olarak nitelendiren Papa, "İslam barış dinidir. Özü akıl ve bilimle yoğrulmuştur. Bütün ilahi dinler gibi İslam da barış getirmiştir. Öğretileri de hem akli hem de barış temelleri üzerine kuruludur" dedi.

SEZER’LE GÖRÜŞME

/_newsimages/2511004.jpgSezer:
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin çağdaşlaşma politikası istikametinde Avrupa’nın yeri vardır. Türkiye’nin Avrupa ile bütünleşmesini, barış ve uygarlık yolunda önemli bir proje olarak görüyoruz. Türkiye’nin AB üyeliği farklı inança sahip insanların ortak değerler çerçevesinde yaşayabileceğini gösterecektir. AB bu süreçte Türkiye’ye haksızlık ve ayrımcılık yapmamalıdır.

Papa: Hoşgörüyle ilgili görüşlerinize aynen katılıyorum. İnanç özgürlüğü de çok önemli. Türkiye’nin AB’de yeri vardır. Bizim ortak değerlerimiz var. Bu ortak değerlerimizi korumak aynı zamanda bizler için birer görev olmalıdır.

Sezer: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin laik bir ülke olduğu anayasa ile belirlenmiştir. Laiklikle ilgili bu yasa, Türkiye’de din ve inanç özgürlüğünün anayasal güvence altında olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Farklı inançlara sahip insanların demokratik temel hak ve özgürlüklerden en iyi şekilde yararlanabileceğinin anayasal güvencesidir.

Papa: Bu düşüncelerinize de katılıyorum.

Sezer: AB sürecinde, Kıbrıs önemli bir konudur. Kıbrıslı Türklere büyük haksızlık yapılıyor. Kıbrıs Türklerinin ambargolar, izolasyonlar altında ezilmesi kabul edilecek bir durum değildir.

Papa: Kıbrıs izahatınız için teşekkür ederim. Sayın Papadopulos bana Kıbrıs’ta yaşananlarla ilgili bir kitap verdi. Maalesef savaşlarda oluyor böyle şeyler. Camiler, kiliseler yakılıyor. Bunu Hıristiyan da, Müslüman da yapıyorsa çok yanlış bir şeydir. Dini mekanlar korunmalıdır.

Sezer: Ben de size Kıbrıslı Türklerin o dönem yaşadıklarını ortaya koyan iki kitap vermek istiyorum. Umarım bu kitapları inceler, değerlendirmelerinizi yaparsınız.

ERDOĞAN’LA GÖRÜŞME

Erdoğan:
Türkiye’ye hoşgeldiniz. Sizin ziyaretinize çok büyük önem veriyoruz. Bundan dolayı, NATO Zirvesi’ne gidişimi sizin Türkiye’ye geliş saatinize denk getirmeyi uygun buldum.

Papa: Çok naziksiniz. Teşekkür ederim.

Erdoğan: Medeniyetlerarası çatışmanın önlenmesi için Türkiye olarak önemli görevler üstlendiğimiz bir dönemde gelmeniz ayrı bir anlam taşıyor. İspanya Başbakanı ile medeniyetler ittifakı için bir sonuç deklarasyonu hazırladık. Başta siyasiler olmak üzere kanaat önderleri ile dini liderlerin söz ve davranışlarıyla medeniyetler ittifakına katkıda bulunmaları lazım. Türkiye’nin AB üyeliği medeniyetler ittifakı için iyi bir mesajdır.

Papa: Türkiye olarak üstlendiğiniz çalışmaları çok önemsiyoruz. Medeniyetler ittifakı sonuç deklarasyonunu görmek isterim.

Erdoğan: Size en kısa sürede ulaştıracağım. Türkiye’nin ve hükümetimizin temel siyaseti AB’ye tam üyeliktir. İşte bu çerçevede AB’ye üyeliğimiz için desteğinizi bekliyoruz.

Papa: Biz siyasi bir kurum değiliz. Türkiye’yi desteklemek için siyasi manevra alanımız bulunmuyor. Ama medeniyetler ittifakı çerçevesinde farklı inanç ve kültürlerin birlikte yaşaması için Türkiye’yi AB ile birlikte görmek isteriz.

Erdoğan: Rahip Santoro cinayeti bizi derinden yaraladı.

Papa: Her toplumda görülebilen fanatizmin bir dine mal edilmesi yanlıştır. Münferit bir olay olarak görüyoruz.

Dünyada manşet

KATOLİK dünyasının ruhani lideri Papa 16. Benedikt’in, aylardır merakla beklenen 4 günlük resmi Türkiye ziyareti dünyan basının da manşetine çıktı. Papa Ankara’dayken saat 15.00 itibariyle , tüm TV kanalları ve gazetelerin internet sitelerinde aynı haber yer aldı.


Kıyafetleriyle mesaj verdi

       Papa 16. Benedictus, Ankara ziyaretinde farklı kıyafetlerle dikkat çekti. Havalanında Başbakan Erdoğan'la görüşürken ve Anıtkabir'i ziyaret ederken kemik rengi bir redingot giyen ve geleneksel takkesini (pileolum) takan Papa, boynundaki büyük haçı da paltosunun üzerine çıkarmadı.
      Papa Köşk'e gelirken de, kırmızı kadife pelerinle fildişi bir kıyafeti tercih etti. Papalığı simgeleyen motifler taşıyan ipek atkı kullanan Papa, boynundaki haçı bu kez kıyafetinin üzerine taktı.
      Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı'na giderken kırmızı pelerinini çıkaran Papa'nın tercih ettiği kıyafetin rengi, Hristiyanlar için farklı mesajlar taşıyor. Açık renk kıyafet Aziz Paul'un Romalılara mektubundaki, "Yeni bir şekilde yaşayın, yeni bir şekilde İsa'yı giyinin" sözlerine dayanıyor. Vaftiz rengi olan beyaz, İsa'nın saflığını temsil ediyor.
      Mor kıyafet Noel'de giyiliyor. "Hatasından dolayı pişman olanları itirafa davet" anlamına geliyor. Kırmızı kıyafet Kutsal Ruh'u, iman şehitlerini ve Hıristiyanlık için dökülmüş kanları temsil ediyor. Günlük yeşil kıyafet de ayinlerde tercih ediliyor.
      "En şık giyinen Papa" olarak adlandırılan 16. Benedictus'un kıyafetlerinin büyük bölümünü Roma’daki Gammarelli Şirketi'nin terzileri dikiyor. Papa'nın 45 numara olan kırmızı ayakkabılarının markası da Prada.

29.11.06 www.milliyet.com.tr 

Papa'nın Türkiye ziyareti manşetlerde... İşte başlıklar

      DHA, BBC TÜRKÇE

      Papa 16. Benediktus'un Türkiye ziyareti İngiltere basınında geniş yer buldu. Hemen her gazete, ziyaretin ilk gününde yaşanan iki gelişmeyi öne çıkarıyor. Bunlardan biri Papa'nın, Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği üyeliği konusunda dile getirdiği olumlu görüşler. Diğeri ise Diyanet İşleri Başkanı Ali Bardakoğlu'nun, 16. Benediktus'un İslamiyet ile ilgili sözlerine yanıtı.
     
Corriere Della Sera: Papa’dan Ankara’ya AB için 'Evet'

      Papa 16. Benediktus’un uzun süredir gerginlikle beklenen Türkiye ziyareti bugün İtalya’nın manşetine oturdu. Tüm İtalyan gazeteleri Papa’nın Türkiye ziyaretini manşetlerine taşırken, genel anlamda Papa’nın Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ve Diyanet İşleri Başkanı Ali Bardakoğlu ile görüşmeleri ön plana çıkartıldı.
      Ülkede en çok okunan Corriere Della Sera Gazetesi, "Papa Avrupa’daki Türkiye’yi açtı" dedi. Haberin devamında "Papa’dan Ankara’ya AB için Evet" başlığı altında, görüşmelerin Atatürk portresi önünde yapıldığına dikkat çekilerek, "Papa, Erdoğan ve Bardakoğlu’yla Atatürk’ün hatırası önünde görüştü" ifadesine yer veridi. Erdoğan’ın Papa’yı karşılayarak aradaki çatlakları giderdiği belirtildi.
     
La Repubblica: Papa, İslam ile diyalog

      La Repubblica Gazetesi’nde , "Papa; İslam ile diyalog" başlığı altında yeralan haberde, Papa’nın Erdoğan’la tokalaşma fotoğrafına yer verilirken, Erdoğan’ın görüşmenin ardından, "Kendisi bizi AB’de istiyor" şeklinde açıklamada bulunduğu, Ali Bardakoğlu’nun da dinlerarası saygıyı vurguladığı belirtildi. Papa’nın "Türkleri seviyorum" sözlerine dikkat çekilirken, haberin devamında ziyaretin çok olumlu bir hava içinde başladığı, ancak gelecek 48 saatin önemli olduğu vurgulandı.
      Gazetede ayrıca bir sayfasını Papa’nın ziyaret edeceği Ayasofya’nın tanıtımına ayırdı. Bu bölümde yapılan yorumda ise, Ayasofya’nın binlerce tuzağı olduğu iddia edilerek, "Radikal İslam sudan bahaneler arıyor. Papa diz çökecek mi" ifadesi yeraldı.
     
İl Manifesto: Papa Türkiye'yi kucakladı

      La Stampa gazetesinde "Papa; İslam’a saygı duyuyorum" başlığıyla verilen haberde, ancak inanç özgürlüğünün olması gerektiği ve AB için çalışmaların hızlandırılması gerektiği vurgulandı. Haberde ayrıca Ayasofya ve Sultanahmet Camii’nin maket fotoğrafları yayınlandı. l’Unita gazetesinde "İslam, Papa diyalog kapısını açtı" manşetiyle duyrulan haberde, "Ankara, Papa ve Büyük Müftü (Diyanet İşleri Başkanı) barış yaptı" ifadesi kullanıldı. Haberde ayrıca Türkiye’de 72 miyon 70 bin kişi yaşadığı ve bunlardan 3 bin 200’ünün Katolik olduğu belirtildi. İl Manifesto gazetesinde "Papa Türkiye’yi kucakladı" başlığıyla verilen haberde, "Papa sözlerine Atatürk ile başladı ama sonra konuyu inanç özgürlüğüne getirdi. Bugün de Ortodokslarla görüşecek" dendi.
      Vatikan yayın organı L’Osservatore Romano gazetesinde ise "Papa Türkiye’de" başlığıyla verilen haberde, "16. Benediktus’un soylu kültür zenginliğine yaptığı tarihi ziyaret Hıristiyanlar için çok değerli" yorumu yapıldı.
     
Guardian: Papa özür dilemedi ama...

      "Papa Müslüman bir ülkeye ilk ziyaretinde, özür dilemedi ancak köprüler kurmaya çalıştı" başlığını kullanan Guardian, 16. Benediktus'un Ankara temaslarını şöyle özetliyor:
      Papa kısa zamanda oluşturduğu İslamofobi izlenimini dün yıkmaya çalışarak, Hristiyanlar ile Müslümanlar arasında karşılıklı saygıya dayalı yeni ve gerçek bir diyalog süreci başlatılması çağrısında bulundu.
      Eylül ayında Almanya'da yaptığı ve İslam'ı kötü ve insanlık dışı bir din olarak tanımladığı konuşmadan dolayı özür dilemedi. Bunun yerine Türkiye'ye methiyeler düzmeyi tercih etti ve Hristiyanlar ile Müslümanların, aynı Tanrı'ya inananların oluşturduğu bir ailenin mensupları olduğunu vurguladı.
      Ayrıca Papa olarak ilk kez, Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği'ne katılma çabalarına desteğini dile getirdi."
     
     Daily Telegraph: Papa Müslümanların öfkesini yatıştırmaya çalıştı

      Daily Telegraph'ın başlığı, "Papa Müslümanların öfkesini yatıştırmaya çalıştı" şeklinde. 16. Benediktus'un diyalog çağrısı yaptığını, ancak Diyanet İşleri Başkanı Ali Bardakoğlu tarafından, daha önceki sözleri nedeniyle 'azarlandığını' belirten gazete şöyle devam ediyor:
      "Bardakoğlu İslam'ın engin hoşgörüsünden sözedip, İslam'ın şiddete eğilimli bir din olduğunu savunanların, aşırı uçların öfkesine yeni gerekçeler sağlamaktan öteye geçemeyeceğini söylediğinde, Papa'nın rahatsız olduğu görüldü.
      Vatikan ise bu hamlenin etkilerini hafifletmek istercesine, Bardakoğlu'nun yapıcı ve saygılı davrandığı, ortada bir anlaşmazlık bulunmadığı şeklinde bir açıklama yaptı. Vatikan ayrıca, Papa'ın bu ziyaret ile, daha önceki açıklamalarının yarattığı hasarı tamir etmeyi amaçladığını da açıkça dile getirdi.
     
     Papa, emrivakiye ustalıklı manevrayla karşılık verdi

      Papa'nın ziyaretine iki tam sayfa ayıran Independent, 16. Benediktus'un Ankara temaslarının ayrıntılı bir analizine yer vermiş. Papa'nın burada ciddi bir emrivaki ile karşılaştığının altını çizen gazete, Vatikan'ın buna ustalıklı bir manevra ile karşılık verdiğini vurguluyor.
      "Türkiye Başbakanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Papa ile görüşmesinden sonra yaptığı açıklamada, kendisinden Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği'ne girme çabalarına destek vermesini istediğini duyurdu.
      "Oysa herkes biliyordu ki Papa, henüz Kardinal Joseph Ratzinger olduğu günlerde, Müslüman olması Hristiyan Avrupa ile tezat oluşturduğundan, Türkiye'nin üyeliğine şiddetle karşı olduğunu açıklamıştı.
      "Buna rağmen Başbakan, 'Peki Papa bu konuda yardım edecek mi?' sorusunu havada kaptı ve 'Evet' dedi. Peki Papa gerçekten böyle mi demişti? Hazırlıksız yakalanan Vatikan'ın, kendi açıklamasını hazırlaması üç saat sürdü.
      Sonunda sözcüsü şu açıklamayı yaptı; 'Papa'nın bu konuda devreye girecek ne gücü, ne de siyasi görevi vardır. Ancak kendisi buna olumlu bakıyor ve Türkiye'nin ortak değerler temelinde Avrupa Birliği'nde yer alması için diyaloğu destekliyor.' Bu yanıt, Papa'yı daha önce dile getirdiği görüşlere ters düşmekten kurtararak, her iki şekilde de yorumlanabilecek bir belirsizlik doğurdu."
     
     Independent: Bardakoğlu'nun sözlerine yanıt vermedi

      Independent, Papa'nın Diyanet İşleri Başkanı Ali Bardakoğlu'nun sözleri karşısında da yanıt vermemeyi, diplomatik bir üslup takınmayı tercih ettiğine dikkat çekiyor ve gezinin ilk gününde korkulanın olmadığı sonucuna varıyor.
      Gazete, ziyaretin devamına ilişkin ise şu satırlara yer vermiş:
      "Paranoyaklar ve tetik şeklinde kıvrılmış parmakları seğirenler, Papa'nın önümüzdeki üç günde neler yapacağı konusunda diken üstünde olacaklar.
      "Ermeniler ile görüşmesinde soykırım meselesini gündeme getirecek mi? Ortodoks Patriği ile görüşmesinde, Avrupa'da son derece zararsız, ama bu topraklarda Bizans'ı yeniden yaratma çabası ile eşanlamlı olan ekümenik kelimesini kullanacak mı? Ayasofya'ya girerken, istavroz çıkaracak mı?"
     
     Times: İlk gün sakin geçti

      İngiliz gazeteleri, Papa 16. Benediktus'un Türkiye ziyaretinin ilk gününden bu notları öne çıkarırken yoğun güvenlik önlemlerine de dikkat çekiyorlar. Ziyaretin Ankara ayağının bu anlamda sakin geçtiğini vurgulayan gazetelerden biri de Times.
      "Ankara'daki hava oldukça ılımlıydı. Ziyaret ile ilgili olarak son günlerde yapılan protesto gösterileri ve saldırı tehditlerine rağmen, Ankara sokaklarında göstericilere rastlanmadı. Bunun bir nedeni, son derece yoğun güvenlik önlemleriydi.
      "Papa Ankara'da, kalın ve beyaz bir palto giydi. Vatikan yetkilileri, bunun altında kurşun geçirmez yelek olup olmadığı sorularını yanıtsız bıraktı."


En ruhani destek: Türkiye'nin yeri AB

 
En ruhani destek: Türkiye'nin yeri AB
Papa'yı Çankaya'nın kapısında karşılayan Sezer, Türkiye'nin AB üyeliği ve Kıbrıs sorununun çözümü için destek istedi. FOTOĞRAF: TOLGA AKINER
Daha önce Türkiye'nin AB üyeliğine karşı ifadeler kullanan Papa, Erdoğan'a Türkiye'nin AB'ye girmesini arzu ettiğini söyledi, Sezer'e 'Yeriniz AB'dir' dedi

29/11/2006

HİLAL KÖYLÜ , TOLGA AKINER
AB sürecinde sürpriz mesaj

ANKARA - Vatikan Devlet Başkanı ve Katolik dünyasının ruhani lideri Papa 16. Benediktus'un Ankara ziyareti Esenboğa Havalimanı'ndaki 'AB desteği' sürpriziyle başladı. Başbakan Tayyip Erdoğan, Başbakan olduğundan beri bir ilke imza attı ve Papa'yı uçağının kapısında karşıladı. Havaalanındaki 20 dakikalık görüşmenin en dikkat çekici diyaloğu ise Erdoğan'ın "AB konusunda desteğinizi bekliyoruz" sözlerine Papa'nın "Türkiye'nin AB'ye girmesini arzu ederiz" oldu.

23 dakikalık görüşme

Papa'yı taşıyan İtalyan Havayolları'na ait uçak dün Esenboğa Havalimanı'na 13.00'te geldi. Cumhurbaşkanı Ahmet Necdet Sezer'in resmi davetlisi Papa, uçağın kapısında bizzat Erdoğan tarafından karşılandı. Papa ile Erdoğan'ın havaalanındaki görüşmesi 23 dakika sürdü. Papa, Türkiye'de bulunmaktan duyduğu memnuniyeti dile getirirken "Türk kültürünü seviyorum" dedi.

'Biz siyasi değiliz ama...'

Erdoğan, Papa ile yaptığı görüşmede Papa'nın Türkiye'nin AB üyeliği konusunda destek verdiğini açıkladı. Bir gazetecinin 'Vatikan Türkiye'nin AB üyeliğine nasıl yaklaşıyor. Papa'nın görüşleri nedir' sorusuna Erdoğan, "Bu soruyu ben kendilerine soru şeklinde değil de 'AB yolunda desteklerinizi rica ederim' diyerek aktardım. O da, 'Biliyorsunuz' dedi. 'Biz siyasi değiliz ama bizler Türkiye'nin AB'ye girmesini arzu ederiz' diye konuştu. Bu arzusu herhalde bizim için olumlu bir tavsiyedir" yanıtını verdi.

'Ekümenlik sorun değil'

Erdoğan, "Batı-Doğu Roma'dan bu yana olan kilise ayrımı var. Bu kiliselerin bir araya gelmesi, Türkiye'yi ekümenlik açısından rahatsız eder mi?" sorusuna da şu yanıtı verdi: "Bir defa o tabii şu anda Türkiye'nin sorunu değil. Biz küresel barışı konuşuyoruz. Ama inanıyorum ki, küresel barış içerisinde gerçekleşebilirse o da bir adımdır. Buyursunlar kendi aralarında böyle bir adım atsınlar. Ama biz Türkiye olarak rol üstlenecek değiliz."

Erdoğan şöyle devam etti: Papa'ya İslam'ın barış, hoşgörü ve sevgi dini olduğunu belirttim. Küresel barış ve özellikle İslam'a yönelik olumlu ifadeleri kendisinden duymuş olmak da benim için bugünkü görüşmenin tamamıyla olumlu yansımasıdır. Trabzon'da bir rahibin öldürülmesi nedeniyle başsağlığı diledim. Kendileri, bunun İslam'dan kaynaklanan olay olmadığını, münferit bir olay olduğunu söyledi. 'Ne Müslümanları ne de İslam dünyasını bizim karalama anlayışımız olamaz' diye düşünceleri oldu.

 


SERKAN DEMİRTAŞ

Sezer'e sıcak ziyaret

29. 11 .06  www.radikal.com.tr 

ANKARA - Cumhurbaşkanı Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Papa 16. Benediktus'la 50 dakikalık görüşmesinde AB için destek istedi. Papa, "Türkiye'nin yeri AB'dir" sözleriyle Başbakan Tayyip Erdoğan'a ilettiği görüşünü Çankaya'da da yineledi. Sezer, "Türkler, Kuzey Kıbrıs'taki dini mekânları tahrip etti" diyen Kıbrıs Rum lideri Tasos Papadopulos'a misillemede bulunarak, Papa'ya 'Geçmişi Silmek: Rum Yönetimindeki Türk Dini, Kültürel Mirası' adlı bir kitap hediye etti. Papa 16. Benediktus da "İnsanlığın bu konuda daha fazla eğitilmesi gerekir. Bunu Hıristiyan da yapsa Müslüman da yapsa yanlıştır" dedi.

Radikal'in edindiği bilgiye göre, sıcak ve olumlu bir ortamda geçen Sezer-Papa görüşmesinde özetle şu diyalog yaşandı:

Sezer: Türkiye kuruluşundan bu yana çağdaşlaşma yönünde ilerlemiştir. Bu yönde Batı'yla iyi ilişkiler kurmak, AB'yle ortak değerler çerçevesinde bütünleşmek izlenen politika olmuştur. Türkiye'nin AB ile bütünleşmesi, farklı inanç sahibi insanların, ortak değerler çerçevesinde bir arada yaşaması açısından önemli bir örnek oluşturacaktır. Laik Türkiye'de inanç ve din özgürlüğü vardır. Bunlar temel haklardır ve anayasayla korunur.

Papa: Türkiye'nin yeri Avrupa'dır. AB'nin içinde yer alması gerekmektedir.

Sezer: Size Kıbrıs konusunda bilgi vermek istiyorum. Kıbrıs Türklerine büyük bir haksızlık yapılmaktadır. Kıbrıs Türkleri, çözüm bulunması için somut iradelerini göstermişlerdir. Buna rağmen ambargolarla karşı karşıyalardır. Türkiye olarak biz de çözümü her zaman destekledik. Bizim için sorunun çözüm zemini BM'dir.

Papa: Biz de Kıbrıs konusunda zeminin BM olduğunu düşünüyoruz. Bu çerçevede çözüme dönük çabaları destekleyeceğimizi size ifade etmek isterim.

'Rum lider yanıltıyor'

Sezer: Rum yönetiminin lideri Tasos Papadopulos'un geçen haftalarda sizi ziyareti sırasında doğru olmayan iddiaları gündeme getirdiğini biliyoruz. Ben de size Kıbrıs'ta dini ve kültürel envantere ilişkin ayrıntılı bir kitap sunmak istiyorum. Umuyorum bunu incelersiniz ve gerekli değerlendirmeyi yaparsınız.

Papa: Geçmişte Balkan Savaşın'dan başlayarak camilerin, kiliselerin yakıldığı, tahrip edildiğini biliyoruz. Bunlar yanlış hareketlerdir. İnsanlığın bu konuda daha fazla eğitilmesi gerekir. Bunu Hıristiyan da yapsa Müslüman da yapsa yanlıştır.

İzahlarınızın hepsinde sizinle mutabıkım. Ortak değerlerimiz, çağdaşlık ve vicdan özgürlüğü gibi konular tüm dünyanın ortak anlayışını güçlendirecektir.

Papa'ya iki kitap

Sezer, Papa'ya Sabahattin İsmail'in İngilizce yazdığı 'Sinserity V Slande On The Preservation of Cultural Heritage - Kültürel Mirasın Korunmasında Samimiyet ve İftira' ile Lefkoşa baskılı 'Erasing The Past: Turkish Cypriot Culture Religious Heritage Under the Control of The Greek Cypriot Administration-Geçmişi Silmek: Rum Yönetimindeki Türk Dini, Kültürel Mirası' kitaplarını armağan etti.



Papa Meryem Ana’da dua edecek
Geceyi Ankara’daki Vatikan Büyükelçiliği’nde geçiren Papa 16. Benedikt, bugün İzmir Selçuk’a gidiyor. Ziyaret nedeniyle ilçede olağanüstü güvenlik önlemleri alındı.

NTV-MSNBC
Güncelleme: 10:34 TSİ 29 Kasım 2006 Çarşamba

Papa’nın güzergahı üzerinde olan Atatürk Caddesi’nde yoğun güvenlik önlemi alındı. Cadde üzerindeki çöp bidonları kaldırılırken esnafla da tek tek görüşüldü.

Ekipler ayrıca ilçeye yeni yerleşenler hakkında da detaylı bilgi aldı. Papa’ya iki zırhlı araç tahsis edildi. Güzergah üzerindeki binalara da keskin nişancılar yerleştirildi. Papa’nın Selçuk ziyareti boyunca yaklaşık bin polis görev yapacak.

İzmir Valisi Oğuz Kağan Köksal da dün Meryem Ana Evi’ne giderek jandarma karakolunda son hazırlıkları gözden geçirdi. Papa’nın Meryem Ana Evi´nde yöneteceği ayine 600 Katolik katılacak. Ayin, sadece TRT tarafından 67 ülkeye canlı yayınlanacak.

Öğle yemeğini kardinallerle Papaz evinde yiyecek olan Papa yaklaşık bir saat burada dinlendikten sonra İstanbul’a geçecek.


 

Papa İzmir'e geldi

29 Kasım, 2006 11:05:00 (TSİ) www.cnnturk.com 

Papa ve heyeti bugün Selçuk'taki Meryem Ana Evi'ni ziyaret edecek
Cumhurbaşkanı Ahmet Necdet Sezer'in resmi davetlisi olarak dün Türkiye ziyaretine başlayan Papa 16’ncı Benedict, bugün Ankara’dan İzmir'e gitti. Daha sonra İstanbul’a geçecek olan Papa için, her iki kentte de yoğun güvenlik önlemleri alındı.

 

Ankara'daki temaslarının ardından geceyi Vatikan Büyükelçiliği'nde geçiren Papa, bu sabah Devlet Bakanı Beşir Atalay tarafından törenle İzmir'e uğurlandı.
 
Saat 08.45'te Esenboğa Havalimanı'na gelen Papa, VIP salonunda bir süre dinlendi ve ''Başbakan ve Cumhurbaşkanı ile yaptığım görüşmeler önemli ve olumlu geçti'' dedi.
 
Papa ve beraberlerindekileri taşıyan THY'ye ait 'Bodrum' adlı uçak, saat 11.00'e doğru İzmir Adnan Menderes Havalimanı'na geldi. Bir süre VIP salonunda dinlenen ve çay içen Papa'ya Vali Oğuz Kağan Köksal İzmir ile ilgili bilgi verdi.
 
Papa, daha sonra kendisine Cumhurbaşkanlığı tarafından tahsis edilen zırhlı araçla Selçuk'a hareket etti.
 
Havalimanındaki güvenlik önlemleri kapsamında, gazetecilerin isimleri ve akreditasyon kartları kontrol edilirken, fotoğraf makineleri ve kameraları x-ray cihazından geçirildi.
 
Aprona giren gazetecilerin kameraları ve fotoğraf makineleri polis köpekleri tarafından da kontrol edildi.
 
Selçuk'taki Meryem Ana Kilisesi'nde ayin yönetecek olan Papa, daha sonra İstanbul'a geçecek ve Fener Rum Patrikhanesi'ni ziyaret edecek. Papa, Patrik Bartholomeos ile görüşecek.
 
Geceyi İstanbul'da geçirecek olan Papa, yarın Fener Rum Patrikhanesi'ndeki ayine katılacak, ardından da balkondan halkı selamlayarak, hitap edecek.
 
Papa, aynı gün Ayasofya Müzesi ile Sultanahmet Camisi'ni de ziyaret edecek. 16'ncı Benedict, 1 Aralık cuma günü, İstanbul'daki Holy Spirit Katedrali'ndeki ayini yönetecek ve öğleden sonra Türkiye'den ayrılacak.
 
Yarın Ayasofya Müzesi'ni ziyaret edecek olan Papa'nın, Sultanahmet Camii'ne de gitmesi bekleniyor. Papa, İstanbul'da çeşitli din temsilcileri ile de görüşecek.

MERYEM ANA EVİ'NDE HAZIRLIKLAR

Papa 16'ncı Benedict'in ziyaret ederek 'hacı' olacağı ve 500 Katoliğin katılacağı ayini yöneteceği Meryem Ana Evi'nde son hazırlıklar yapıldı.
 
Meryem Ana Evi kilisesinin rahibi ve görevli rahibeler tüm detayları tek tek gözden geçirirken Jandarma Komando Özel Operasyon Tabur Komutanlığı Bomba Arama Ekibi'ne bağlı görevliler ve bomba arama köpeği 'Raks' çevreyi, ayine katılacakların oturacakları banklar ve özellikle Papa'nın ayin sırasında oturacağı koltuğu tekrar tekrar aradı.
 
Papa'nın ziyareti ve ayin için Meryem Ana Evi'nin bahçesindeki alana banklar yerleştirilirken, Papa'nın burada bulunanlara hitap edeceği kürsü, hazırlanan masanın çevresi, bahçe ve ayin bölümünü ayırmak için kullanılan metal paravanların üzerleri beyaz ve sarı renkli kurdele ve çiçeklerle süslendi.
 
Rahibeler dua alanında bulunan masanın üzerine beyaz mumlar yerleştirirken, kullanılacak beyaz örtünün son ütüsünü masanın üzerine serili durumda gerçekleştirdi.
 
Güvenlik önlemleri sıkı tutuluyor
 
Güvenlik birimleri sadece Meryem Ana Evi'nde değil Selçuk ilçesinin tamamında yoğun güvenlik önlemleri aldı. Güzergah boyunca tüm yollar boşaltıldı ve yol boyunca keskin nişancılar yerleştirildi.
 
Ziyarette herhangi bir aksaklığın yaşanmaması için istihbarat, terörle mücadele ve güvenlik şube müdürlüklerinden 500'ün üzerinde polisin görev alacağı belirtiliyor.
 
Ayine katılacak davetliler ile ayini izlemek için belirlenen sınırlı sayıda basın mensubu Selçuk girişinde ilk kontrolden geçtikten sonra Efes Antik Kenti'nin kapısında araçlarından indirilip isim kontrolleri yapılıyor ve tahsis edilen özel araçlarla Meryem Ana Evi'nin alt avlusunda bulunan otoparkta hazırlanan alana getiriliyor.
 
Papa'nın Meryem Ana ziyaretini izlemek için akredite olan 850 yerli ve yabancı basın mensubu, burada kendileri için hazırlanan alanda yalnızca Papa'nın araçtan inip Meryem Ana Evi'ne yöneleceği birkaç dakikalık görüntüyü çekmeye çalışacak.
 
Uluslararası 40 haber ajansının takip ettiği Papa için yerli yabancı çok sayıda basın kuruluşunun temsilcisi Selçuk'ta bulunuyor. Ayin alanına girecek basın mensupları ve davetliler ise avlunun üst tarafında bulunan son kontrol noktasında yapılan yoğun güvenlik kontrolünün ardından özel bölüme alınıyor.
 
Ayine katılacak olan Katolik davetliler, ellerinde Papa'nın resimleri ve Türk Bayrağı ile ilahiler söyleyerek ayin alanına doğru gelmeye başladı. Sabah saatlerinde ilk olarak 'Neokatekümena Cemaatleri' İstanbul temsilcileri ilahiler söyleyerek alana geldi. 
 
İSTANBUL'DA DURUM  
 
İstanbul Emniyet Müdürü Celalettin Cerrah, Papa 16’ncı Benedict’in ziyareti süresince trafiği rahatlatmak için İstanbullular'ın mümkün olduğunca toplu ulaşım araçlarını tercih etmesini istedi.
 
Papa'nın ziyareti için alınan önlemleri yerinde görmek üzere Atatürk Havalimanı Devlet Konukevi'nde incelemelerde bulunan Cerrah, daha sonra beraberindekilerle birlikte bir minibüse binerek buradan hareket etti. Bu sırada çevrede geniş güvenlik önlemleri alındığı, keskin nişancıların da bir bina üzerinde yerlerini aldığı görüldü.
 
Minibüs ve izleyen konvoy sahil yolundan hareket ederek ilk olarak Kumkapı'daki Meryem Ana Ermeni Kilisesi'nin bulunduğu yere geldi. Burada da yetkililerden bilgi alan Cerrah, daha sonra Ayasofya Müzesi'nin önüne ulaştı. Bu sırada güzergah boyunca güvenlik önlemleri alındığı ve trafik görevlilerinin de yolu açtığı görüldü. Ayrıca, bir polis helikopteri de konvoyu havadan izledi.
 
Papa’nın yedek güzergahları
 
Sultanahmet Meydanı'na inen helikopterin pilotuyla sohbet eden Cerrah, hazırlıklara ilişkin olarak ilgililerden bilgi aldıktan sonra gazetecilerin sorularını yanıtladı.
 
Cerrah, bir soru üzerine Papa'nın İstanbul'a gelişinden sonra izlenecek güzergaha ilişkin bilgi veremeyeceğini belirterek, ''Hangi güzergahı kullanacağımız, geldiği gün belli olacak. Yedek güzergahlarımız olacak” dedi.
 
Cerrah, bir gazetecinin olası protesto gösterilerine ilişkin sorusu üzerine de, ''Her türlü tedbirimiz hazır" yanıtını verdi.
  
Sultanahmet Camisi'ndeki hazırlıkları da denetleyen Cerrah son olarak Fener Rum Patrikhanesi'nin bulunduğu bölgeye geçti. Buradaki hazırlıklarla ilgili olarak da yetkililerden bilgi alan Cerrah, gazetecilerin soruları üzerine, ''Arkadaşlarımızdan son bilgileri aldım. Dört dörtlük tedbirlerimiz tamam'' dedi.
 
Papa temaslarına dün başladı
 
Papa 16’ncı Benedict 4 günlük Türkiye ziyaretine dün başladı. Papa'nın ilk durağı başkent Ankara'ydı. Başbakan Erdoğan, beklenmedik bir şekilde programının dışına çıktı ve Papa'yı uçağın inişinde karşıladı.
 
Papa önce Başbakan Erdoğan'la ardından Cumhurbaşkanı Sezer'le görüştü. Her iki görüşmede de Papa, “Türkiye'nin yeri Avrupa Birliği’dir" mesajı verdi. Papa, Kıbrıs sorununun çözümü için Birleşmiş Milletler’i adres gösterdi.
 
Papa, Diyanet İşleri Başkanı Ali Bardakoğlu ile de makamında biraraya geldi ve “Farklılıklara saygı duymalıyız” diyerek diyalog çağrısı yaptı.
 
Papa 16'ncı Benedict'in Ankara'daki ziyaretinin son durağı Vatikan Büyükelçiliği oldu. Papa, Vatikan Büyükelçiliği’nde çok sayıda yabancı misyon şefini kabul etti.
 
Papa’nın görüştüğü büyükelçiler arasında çok sayıda Hıristiyan ülkenin büyükelçilerinin yanı sıra İslam ülkelerinin büyükelçileri de yer aldı.
 
16’ıncı Benedict burada yaptığı konuşmada, “Türkiye'nin özellikle laik rejim seçimiyle, geçen yüzyılda büyük ve modern bir devlet olma yolunda önemli adımlar attığını” söyledi.
 
Papa "Türkiye'ye yaptığım bu ziyaret vesilesiyle, Müslümanlara büyük saygı duyduğumu tekrarlamak isterim" ifadelerini kullandı.


Papa'dan Türkiye'ye AB desteği

Papa 16. Benedict, Türkiye ziyaretine, İslam'ın barış ve hoşgörü dini olduğu yönünde olumlu mesajlar vererek başladı. Papa seçilmeden önce Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği (AB) üyeliğine açıkça karşı çıkan 16. Benedict, Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan'a, "Türkiye'yi, AB'de görmek istiyoruz." dedi.

Erdoğan, NATO Zirvesi'ne katılmak üzere Letonya'nın başkenti Riga'ya gitmeden önce, Türkiye ziyaretine başlayan Papa 16. Benedict ile Esenboğa Hava Limanı'nda görüştü. Görüşme, 23 dakika sürdü. Erdoğan, Türkiye'nin "medeniyetler arası ittifak" için önemini anlattığı görüşmede, "İslam, barış ve hoşgörü dinidir" mesajı verdi. Erdoğan, Papa'dan, Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği (AB) üyeliğine destek isterken Benedict, Erdoğan'a, "Siyasi lider değilim; ama Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği üyeliğini arzu ediyorum." dedi. Başbakan'ın görüşmede Papa'ya ilk sözleri, "Öncelikle sizi Türkiye'de sizi görmekten mutluluk duyuyorum. Ziyaretiniz, kültürlerarası diyaloğun arttığı bir döneme geldi." oldu.

Papa ile görüşmesinin ardından bir basın toplantısı düzenleyen Başbakan Erdoğan, Papa'nın ziyaretinin "şiddet kültürünün giderek yaygınlaştığı, dünyanın medeniyetler çatışması gibi bir felaket senaryoları ile karşı karşıya olduğu, çeşitli kamplara ayrıldığı zor bir dönemde" gerçekleştiğine dikkat çekti. Erdoğan, "Farklı inanç ve kültürler arasında diyaloğa bugün her zamandan daha fazla ihtiyaç var." diye konuştu. Birleşmiş Milletler (BM) öncülüğünde Türkiye ile İspanya'nın eş başkanlığını yaptığı "medeniyetler ittifakı" çalışması hakkında 16. Benedict'e bilgi verdiğini anlatan Erdoğan, Papa ile görüşmeleri sırasında Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği üyeliğinin de konuşulduğunu bildirdi. Erdoğan'ın, 16.Benedict'e, "Topraklarımızda yüzyıllardır kilise ve havralar camilerle yan yana barış içinde yaşamışlardır. Bu tarihi tecrübesiyle Türkiye, medeniyetler ittifakının da aslında sembol bir ülkesidir. Bu itibarla, Türkiye'nin AB üyeliği küresel barışın mümkün olduğunu gösteren büyük bir hadise olacaktır. Sizden Türkiye'nin AB üyeliğine destek rica ediyorum." dediği öğrenildi.

16. Benedict, Erdoğan'dan, "medeniyetler ittifakı" projesi kapsamında yayınlanan sonuç raporunu istedi. Erdoğan, "En kısa zamanda size ileteceğim." dedi. Erdoğan'ın verdiği bilgiye göre Papa, "Ben siyasetçi değilim; ama Türkiye'yi, Avrupa Birliği'nde görmeyi arzu ediyorum." dedi. Papa, medeniyetler arası ittifak çalışmalarına da destek verdi. Erdoğan'a, Papa'nın eylül ayında Almanya'da yaptığı ve İslam dünyasında tepkilere neden olan konuşmasını gündeme getirip getirmediği soruldu. Erdoğan, "Kendilerinin bu noktada küresel barış için ve özellikle İslam'a yönelik olumlu ifadelerini duymuş olmak, benim için bugünkü görüşmenin olumlu yansımalarıdır. Hep geleceğe bakacağız. Bizler hiçbir zaman kin ve nefret üzerine geleceğimizi bina etmiyoruz." cevabını verdi.

"Yurtta barış, dünyada barış"

Papa 16. Benedict, Ankara'da ilk olarak Anıtkabir'i ziyaret etti. Papa ve beraberindekiler, Anıtkabir avlusundan, üzerinde "Papa Benedict XVI" yazan kırmızı ve beyaz karanfillerden oluşan çelenkle Atatürk'ün mozolesine geldi. Mozoleye çelenk koyan Papa, daha sonra dua etti. Anıtkabir Özel Defteri'ni imzalayan Papa, deftere şunları yazdı: "Farklı din ve kültürlerin buluştuğu, Asya ve Avrupa arasında bir köprü olan bu topraklarda Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nin kurucusunun sözlerini kendi sözlerim gibi söylemekten memnuniyet duyuyorum: Yurtta barış, dünyada barış."

'Tayyip Erdoğan'ın karşılaması önemli'

Papa 16. Benedict'in ziyareti Batı medyasında büyük yankı buldu. Haberlerde "Papa'yı, Başbakan Erdoğan'ın karşılaması"na dikkat çekilirken, "bu önemli bir diplomatik işaret." yorumu yapıldı. Haber ajansları, Papa'nın Türkiye'nin AB üyeliğine destek vermesini "flaş" olarak duyurdu. BBC, "Papa, daha önce onunla görüşmek için fazla meşgul olduğunu söyleyen Başbakan Erdoğan tarafından karşılandı." ifadesini kullandı. Papa'nın, ziyarete "kardeşlik" mesajı ile başladığını kaydeden CNN de 16. Benedict'in Erdoğan'a "Dinler arasında köprü olduğu için Türkiye'ye gerçekten gelmek istedim." dediğini aktardı. AFP Papa'nın, "Türkiye'nin AB'ye girmesini arzu ediyorum." şeklinde cevap verdiğini aktarırken AP, 16. Benedict'in, "Demokratik İslam ülkesi olan Türkiye kültürlerarası köprüdür." sözlerine dikkat çekti. BBC, CNN ve Alman özel televizyon kanalları Katolik liderin temaslarını canlı olarak yayınladı.

Bardakoğlu'ndan Papa'ya: İslam barış dinidir, şiddet ithamı bizi üzüyor

Papa 16'ncı Benedict, Cumhurbaşkanı Ahmet Necdet Sezer'in resmi davetlisi olarak dün Türkiye'ye geldi. Papa'yı Esenboğa Hava Limanı'nda karşılayan Başbakan Tayyip Erdoğan, uçağın merdivenlerine kadar giderek jest yaptı.

Papa'yla hava limanında yaklaşık 20 dakika görüşen Erdoğan, AB yolunda destek ricasında bulunduğunu, Papa'nın da "Biz siyasi değiliz; ama Türkiye'nin AB üyeliğini arzu ederiz." dediğini aktardı. Papa 16. Benedict'in ikinci durağı ise Anıtkabir oldu. Özel deftere, "Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nin kurucusunun sözlerini kendi sözlerim gibi söylemekten memnuniyet duyuyorum: Yurtta barış, dünyada barış.'' diye yazdı. Ardından Çankaya Köşkü'ne çıkan Papa ile Cumhurbaşkanı Sezer'in görüşmesi yaklaşık yarım saat sürdü. Papa'nın programının en önemli duraklarından birini ise Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı oluşturdu. İki dinî lider, ortak basın toplantısında sıcak mesajlar verdi. Ali Bardakoğlu, İslamofobi anlayışından yakınırken, din adamlarının uluslararası siyasetin getirdiği konulara değil toplumsal sıkıntılara eğilmesi gerektiğini anlattı. Papa ise, Hıristiyan ve Müslümanlara, birbirlerini tanıyarak farklılıklarına saygı göstererek diyalog çağrısında bulundu.

29/11/2006 www.zaman.com.tr 


29 Kasım 2006 Çarşamba

Erdoğan’dan jest> Sibel Tokgöz - Buket Güven - Mahmut Bulut www.turkiyegazetesi.com.tr 

> Basın büyük ilgi gösterdi
ULUSLARARASI basının ‘tahrik’ dolu yayınlarına ve bazı çevrelerin gerilim senaryolarına rağmen Başbakan Erdoğan’ın, Türkiye’yi ziyaret eden Papa 16. Benediktus’u uçağın kapısında karşılaması dünyada büyük yankı uyandırdı. Fransız AFP ajansı başta olmak üzere, uluslararası ajanslar, Erdoğan’ın karşılamasını, “Papa’ya büyük jest. Türk Başbakan Papa’yı uçağın kapısında karşılayarak jest yaptı” diye duyurdu.


> 2 bine yakın gazeteci
ANKARA’ya gelen 2 bine yakın yabancı gazeteci tarafından da takip edilen karşılama töreninin ardından Papa ve Erdoğan Büyük VİP salonunda bir araya geldi. Görüşmede Papa, Türkiye’de bulunmaktan duyduğu memnuniyeti dile getirirken, Erdoğan da Papa’yı Türkiye’de görmekten mutluluk duyduğunu belirterek, “Ziyaretiniz kültürler arası diyaloğun geliştiği bir zamana denk geldi” diye konuştu.

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ANKARA- Katolik dünyasının ruhani lideri Papa 16. Benediktus’un günlerdir konuşulan tarihî ziyareti dün başladı. Papa ve beraberindeki heyeti taşıyan; üzerinde Türkiye ve Vatikan bayrakları bulunan İtalya Havayolları Alitalia’ya ait uçak, saat 13.00’te Esenboğa Havalimanı’na indi. Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, tahrik dolu yayınlara ve bazı çevrelerin gerilim senaryolarına Papa’yı uçağın kapısında karşılayarak cevap verdi. 16. Benediktus’u karşılama töreninde Erdoğan’ın yanı sıra Türkiye ziyareti boyunca kendisine refakat edecek olan Devlet Bakanı Beşir Atalay, Milli Savunma Bakanı Vecdi Gönül, Vatikan’ın Ankara Büyükelçisi Antonio Lucibello, Türkiye’nin Vatikan Büyükelçisi Osman Durak, Ankara Valisi Kemal Önal, Ankara Garnizon Komutanı Korgeneral Saldıray Berk, Ankara Büyükşehir Belediye Başkanı Melih Gökçek, Ankara Emniyet Müdürü Ercüment Yılmaz da hazır bulundu. Papa’nın üzerinde dini bir simge taşımayan kalın beyaz giysisi ve ‘meşhur’ kırmızı makosenleri ilk göze çarpan ayrıntılardı.

> 150 TV canlı yayınladı
Erdoğan’ın ‘karşılama jesti’, dünyada büyük yankı uyandırdı. Papa’yı son ana kadar Devlet Bakanı Atalay’ın karşılamasının beklendiğini belirten uluslararası ajanslar, “Papa’ya büyük jest. Erdoğan, Medeniyetler İttifakı konusunda yaptığı girişimlerin önemini bir defa daha dünyaya gösterdi” yorumunu yaptı. Sürpriz karşılama; 150 dünya televizyonu tarafından canlı olarak yayınlandı. Papa 16. Benediktus ile Başbakan Erdoğan, daha sonra havalimanının Büyük VİP Salonu’na geçti. Görüşme görüntü alınması için kısa süreyle basına açıldı, daha sonra basına kapalı olarak devam etti. Yaklaşık 20 dakika süren görüşmenin öncesinde kısa bir açıklama yapan Papa, Türkiye’de bulunmaktan duyduğu memnuniyeti dile getirdi. Erdoğan da, Papa’yı Türkiye’de görmekten mutluluk duyduğunu ifade etti.

> Önemli bir ziyaret
Başbakan Erdoğan, NATO Zirvesi için Letonya’ya hareket etmeden önce görüşmeyle ilgili bir basın toplantısı düzenledi. Dünyanın medeniyetler çatışması gibi bir felaket senaryolarıyla karşı karşıya olduğu zor bir dönemden geçtiğine işaret eden Erdoğan, “Aramızdaki farklılıkların ön plana çıkarılmaya çalışıldığı böyle bir dönemde Sayın Papa’nın nüfusunun yüzde 95’i Müslüman, demokratik, laik, sosyal bir hukuk devleti olan Türkiye’ye yaptığı bu ziyareti, hem zamanlı ve hem de önemli buluyorum. Bu ziyaret, dünyaya barış ve hoşgörü mesajlarının verilebilmesi bakımından son derece önemlidir. Aynı düşünceleri, Sayın Papa’nın benimle paylaştığını gördüm. Bundan dolayı ayrıca memnunum” dedi. Papa 16. Benediktus’a İslam’ın barış, hoşgörü ve sevgi dini olduğunu anlattığını kaydeden Erdoğan, “Küresel barış ve özellikle İslam’a yönelik olumlu ifadeleri kendisinden duymuş olmak da benim için bugünkü görüşmenin tamamıyla olumlu yansımasıdır. Bizim bakışımız, sürekli olarak bardağın dolu tarafına yöneliktir” şeklinde konuştu.

> AB üyeliğimize destek
Trabzon’da meydana gelen olay sebebiyle Papa 16. Benediktus’a başsağlığı dileklerini de ilettiğini belirten Erdoğan, şunları kaydetti: “Kendileri bunun, asla İslam’dan veya bir Müslümanın bir Hıristiyana bakışından kaynaklanmadığını, münferit bir olay olduğunu ifade etti. Bununla ilgili olarak da, ‘ne Müslümanları ne de İslam dünyasını karalama anlayışımız olamaz’ istikametinde düşünceleri oldu.” Görüşmede Türkiye’nin AB üyeliğinin de gündeme geldiğini aktaran Başbakan Erdoğan, şöyle devam etti: “Kendisine ‘Avrupa Birliği yolunda desteklerinizi rica ederim’ dedim. ‘Biliyorsunuz, biz siyasi değiliz ama bizler Türkiye’nin Avrupa Birliği’ne girmesini arzu ederiz’ cevabını verdi. Bunlar da bizim ayrıca Dışişleri’ndeki not tutucu arkadaşların kayıtlarında mevcut. Bu arzusu da bizim için herhalde olumlu bir tavsiyedir.”

> Kendimize bakalım
Gazetecilerin sorularını da cevaplayan Erdoğan, “Batı-Doğu Roma’dan bu yana olan kilise ayrımı var. Bu kiliselerin bir araya gelmesi, Türkiye’yi ekümenlik açısından rahatsız eder mi?” sorusuna, “Bir defa o şu anda Türkiye’nin meselesi değil. Biz küresel barışı konuşuyoruz. Ama küresel barış içerisinde gerçekleşebilirse o da bir adımdır. Buyursunlar kendi aralarında böyle bir adımı atsınlar. Ama biz Türkiye olarak bir rol üstlenecek değiliz. Biz kendimize bakalım. Yere sağlam basalım. Bizim bir medeniyetimiz, kültürümüz var” karşılığını verdi. Erdoğan, “Yayın kesildi, güzel mesajlar anlaşılamadı. Papa ne mesajlar verdi?” sorusu üzerine de, “O güzel mesajlar, görüşme boyunca devam etti. Sayın Papa’nın söyledikleri az önce ifade ettiklerim. Bunlar içinde en önemlisi, dediğim gibi özellikle İslam’a yönelik barış, sevgi anlayışını tekrarlaması. Bunun yanında özellikle İslam dünyası ile Hıristiyan dünyası arasındaki küresel barışa, Medeniyetler İttifakı’na yönelik yaklaşımları... Bunları çok önemsediklerini onlar da vurguladılar” dedi. Erdoğan, Papa’nın Medeniyetler İttifakı Zirvesi’nin sonuç deklarasyonunu görmek istediğini de sözlerine ekledi.

> Papa: Bu kültürü seviyorum
Bu arada, uluslarası ajanslara göre Papa 16. Benediktus, görüşme sonrası şunları kaydetti: “Papa olduğumdan beri Türkiye’ye gelmek istiyorum çünkü bu kültürü seviyorum. Türkiye demokratik bir İslam ülkesi ve dinlerarası bir köprü görevi görüyor. Kültürlerarası dayanışmayı tekrarlamak istiyorum.”
Papa 16. Benediktus dün ayrıca, Ankara’daki misyon şeflerini kabul etti ve kabulden sonra, Vatikan Büyükelçiliği’nce verilen özel akşam yemeğine katıldı.

> Bugün İzmir’e geçecek
ANKARA’daki temaslarının ardından geceyi Çankaya Birlik Mahallesi’nde bulunan Vatikan Büyükelçiliğinde geçiren Papa, bu sabah İzmir’e gidecek ve Selçuk’taki Meryem Ana Kilisesi’nde ayin yönetecek. Papa, daha sonra İstanbul’a geçecek ve Fener Rum Patrikhanesi’ni ziyaret edecek; yarın Patrikhane’deki ayine katılacak. Papa, aynı gün Ayasofya Müzesi ile Sultanahmet Camii’ni ziyaret edecek. Papa, cuma günü Türkiye’den ayrılacak.

> Türkiye’ye gelen 3. Papa
PAPA 16. Benediktus, Türkiye’yi ziyaret eden üçüncü Papa oldu. Türkiye, daha önce 1967’de Papa Altıncı Paul, 1979’da ise Papa İkinci Jean Paul’u ağırlamıştı. Gerek Altıncı Paul, gerekse İkinci Jean Paul, Türkiye’yi temel itibariyle Fener Rum Patrikhanesinde Aziz Andreas Yortusuna katılma amacıyla ziyaret etmişlerdi.

> Bush gibi korundu
ANKARA polisi, ABD Başkanı George W. Bush’un, 2004’teki NATO Zirvesi öncesinde yaptığı Türkiye gezisinde alınan tedbirlerin aynısını Papa için de uyguladı. Papa 16. Benediktus, Ankara’da kaldığı 19-20 saatlik süre içinde trafik tescil, silah ruhsat ve pasaport şubesinde görevli memurlarda dahil olmak üzere yaklaşık 3 bin polis tarafından korundu. Havaalanında başlayan yoğun güvenlik tedbirleri Papa’nın geçiş güzergahlarında da devam etti. Havadan bir helikopter de güvenlik uçuşu yaptı. Güvenlik sebebiyle, 30 araçtan oluşan konvoy, önceden belirlenen güzergah yerine Esenboğa Havalimanı’ndan çevre yoluna geçerek, Konya yolundan Anıtkabir’e ulaştı. Konvoyda, özel harekat timine ait araçlarla bir ambulans da yer aldı.


> Sezer’den KKTC hatırlatması
Vatikan Devlet Başkanı ve katolik dünyasının ruhani lideri Papa 16. Benediktus, Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ile görüştükten sonra Anıtkabir’i ziyaret etti. Anıtkabir Özel Defteri’ni imzalayan Papa, şunları yazdı: “Farklı din ve kültürlerin buluştuğu, Asya ve Avrupa arasında bir köprü olan bu topraklarda Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin kurucusunun sözlerini kendi sözlerim gibi söylemekten memnuniyet duyuyorum: Yurtta barış, dünyada barış.” Papa, Anıtkabir’den sonra saat 14.45’te Çankaya Köşkü’ne geldi. Cumhurbaşkanı Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Vatikan Devlet Başkanı sıfatını taşıyan Papa’yı, bandosuz, marşsız bir törenle Köşk’ün kapısında karşıladı. Sezer daha sonra makamında 16. Benediktus ile yaklaşık yarım saat süren bir görüşme yaptı. Sezer görüşme sırasında Papa’ya, Sabahattin İsmail’in İngilizce yazdığı “Sinserity V Slande On The Preservation Of Cultural Heritage” ile 2006 yılı Lefkoşa baskılı “Erasing the past: Turkish Cypriot Culture Religious Heritage Under The Control Of The Greek Cypriot Administration” kitaplarını armağan etti. Kitaplarda Kıbrıs’ta Rumlarca tahrip edilen Türk dini ve kültürel eserlerinin konu edildiği öğrenildi.

> Papadopulos’a misilleme
Sezer’in bu anlamlı hediyeleri, Rum lider Tassos Papadopulos’a misilleme niteliği taşıyor. Yaklaşık 15 gün önce Vatikan’ı ziyaret eden Papadopulos, Papa’ya, Kıbrıs Barış Harekatı sırasında yıkıldığını iddia eden Rum Ortodoks kiliselerinin fotoğraflarının yer aldığı bir albüm hediye etmişti. Albümü inceleyen Papa, üzgün bir ifadeyle, “Böylesine bir yıkım. Olur şey değil” demişti. 16. Benediktus, Sezer’in ardından Başbakan Vekili Mehmet Ali Şahin ile Camlı Köşk’te görüştü.

> Dinler şiddet barındırmaz
ANKARA - Papa 16’ncı Benediktus, Diyanet İşleri Başkanı Ali Bardakoğlu’nu Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı’nda ziyaret etti. Görüşmede Bardakoğlu ve Papa , dinlerde şiddete yer olmadığını belirterek, dünyaya barış çağrısında bulundular.
Diyanet İşleri Başkanı Bardakoğlu, görüşme sonrası düsenlenen basın toplantısında, bu ziyareti farklı din, inanç, kültür, medeniyetler arasında uzlaşı kültürünün geliştirilmesi için olumlu bir adım olarak gördüklerini söyledi. Hz. Adem’den Hz. Muhammed Aleyhisselâm’a kadar bütün peygamberlerin barış, sevgi ve kurtuluş çağrısının elçileri ve rehberleri olduğunu belirten Bardakoğlu, “Bize düşen görev, Allah’ın gönderdiği ve bütün peygamberlerin insanlığa tebliğ ettiği bu kutlu mesajı en güzel şekilde gelecek nesillere aktararak insanlığın barış, kurtuluş ve huzura ermesine hizmet etmektir” diye konuştu.
Papa’nın Almanya ziyareti sırasında söylediği “İslam’ın yeryüzüne kılıçla yayıldığı” sözlerine diplomatik bir üslupla cevap veren Bardakoğlu, şöyle konuş tu: “Ne var ki, son dönemlerde İslam dininin tarihi ve kaynaklarıyla şiddeti içerip teşvik ettiği, İslam’ın yeryüzüne kılıçla yayıldığı, Müslümanların potansiyel şiddet uygulayıcıları olduğu anlayışını ifade eden İslamophobia’nın giderek tırmandığını hep birlikte müşahede ediyoruz. Bilimsel ve tarihsel hiçbir araştırma ve veriye dayanmayan, adalet ve insaf ölçüleriyle de bağdaşmayan bu itham ve iddialardan, adını barıştan alan İslam’ın her mensubunun son derece müteessir ve müşteki olduğunu ilan etmek isterim.” Prof. Dr. Bardakoğlu özellikle dini liderlerin ve dini kurumların korku ve kaygılara dayalı ön yargıların esiri olmamasının ve sağduyulu davranmasının evrensel barış ve huzurun tesis edilmesinde esas olduğunu kaydetti.

Papa’dan diyalog çağrısı
Papa 16’ncı Bedeniktus ise Prof. Dr. Bardakoğlu ile buluşmanın sevincine nail olduğunu belirterek, “Türkiye”deki bütün Müslümanları sevgi dolu hürmetle selamlıyorum” dedi. Kültürlerarası diyalog konusunda ümitli olduğunu dile getiren Papa, “Birlikte ahenk, esenlik ve karşılıklı güvenle yaşama arzusuyla birbirimizi daha iyi tanıma fırsatı bulmayı ve aramızdaki sevgi bağını güçlendirmeyi ümit ediyorum” diye konuştu. > Haber Merkezi


Benoît XVI appelle les chrétiens et les musulmans à un "dialogue authentiquement basé sur la vérité"
LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | 28.11.06 | 

près avoir rencontré le premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan et le président de la République, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, mardi 28 novembre à Ankara, le pape Benoît XVI a continué sa visite en Turquie par une entrevue avec le directeur des affaires religieuses au sein du gouvernement Ali Bardakoglu. Une rencontre qui s'annonçait nettement plus délicate – M. Bardakoglu avait vivement critiqué les propos du pape à Ratisbonne – mais qui s'est finalement déroulée sans accroc.

Benoît XVI et M. Bardakoglu ont dialogué pendant environ quinze minutes de l'importance du dialogue interreligieux devant les caméras de télévision. M. Bardakoglu, religieux musulman et haut fonctionnaire du gouvernement, a tout d'abord regretté une montée de l'"islamophobie" qui présente l'islam comme une religion qui encouragerait la violence, une forme de mise au point après le discours du pape à Ratisbonne. M. Bardakoglu a également souligné dans son intervention que les responsables religieux devaient "refuser d'être les instruments des tensions de la politique internationale et contribuer à la solution des problèmes sociaux".

"RESPECT FRATERNEL" ENTRE CHRÉTIENS ET MUSULMANS

Le pape a pour sa part souligné dans son discours que "le dialogue interreligieux et interculturel" est "une nécessité vitale, dont dépend dans une large mesure notre avenir". "Chrétiens et musulmans appartiennent à la famille de ceux qui croient en un Dieu unique", a-t-il rappelé en citant le concile Vatican II. "Le meilleur moyen d'aller de l'avant est un dialogue authentique entre chrétiens et musulmans, basé sur la vérité et inspiré du désir sincère de se connaître mieux l'un l'autre, en respectant nos différences et en reconnaissant ce que nous avons en commun", a estimé le chef de l'Eglise catholique.

Le pape a tiré du Moyen-Age un exemple de "respect fraternel" entre chrétiens et musulmans : l'hommage rendu au XIe siècle par son prédécesseur Grégoire VII à la "grande bienveillance" manifestée par un "prince musulman d'Afrique du Nord" envers les chrétiens qu'il avait sous sa juridiction. Le passage du discours de Ratisbonne qui avait mis le feu aux poudres concernait lui des critiques portées contre l'islam par un empereur byzantin du Moyen-Age, qui accusait l'islam de violence et de n'avoir apporté "rien de bon".

"Les religions sont faites pour la paix et la réconciliation et ne devraient pas être interprétées autrement", a déclaré Benoît XVI. "Nous aussi, nous favorisons le dialogue entre les religions qui doit se faire sur des bases solides", a souligné M. Bardakoglu.

LIBERTÉ RELIGIEUSE "GARANTIE INSTITUTIONNELLEMENT"

Dans un pays laïque, à 99 % musulman, où la liberté de culte est reconnue mais où les minorités chrétiennes réclament plus de liberté d'action, le pape a insisté sur l'importance d'une liberté religieuse "garantie institutionnellement et respectée effectivement, aussi bien pour les individus que pour les communautés". Une telle liberté "constitue pour tous les croyants la condition nécessaire à leur contribution loyale à l'édification de la société", "spécialement envers les plus vulnérables et les plus pauvres", a souligné le pape.

Les deux hommes, tous deux vêtus de blanc et entourés de leurs délégations, ont procédé à un échange de cadeaux et se sont serré la main pendant plusieurs minutes devant les télévisions et les photographes. Un tel dialogue improvisé devant les caméras est totalement inhabituel pour le pape qui fonde généralement ses interventions sur un discours écrit.

Dans une interview publiée lundi par la presse turque, Ali Bardakoglu a cependant averti que la visite papale ne suffirait pas à réparer la "rancœur" des musulmans même s'il s'agit d'"un pas dans la bonne direction".


Le Pape ouvre la porte de l'Europe à la Turquie

De notre envoyé spécial à Ankara HERVÉ YANNOU.
 Publié le 29 novembre 2006  www.lefigaro.fr

(AP / P.D Josek)

Rompant avec sa position traditionnelle, Benoît XVI a encouragé, dès son arrivée à Ankara, la vocation européenne de la Turquie.

 
BENOÎT XVI souhaitait que son voyage en Turquie soit plus pastoral que politique. Or, dès son arrivée hier à Ankara, la politique a pris le dessus. Accueilli par le premier ministre turc, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, le Souverain Pontife lui a déclaré qu'il pourrait voir d'un bon oeil l'adhésion de son pays à l'Union européenne. Une véritable révolution pour un pape qui, avant son élection, s'était ouvertement opposé à cet élargissement, vu comme « une grande erreur ». Le pape théologien s'est fait diplomate. « Nous ne faisons pas de politique, a cependant précisé le père Federico Lombardi, directeur du bureau de presse du Saint-Siège, mais nous voyons favorablement le chemin de la Turquie vers l'Union européenne. » Le Saint-Siège « n'a pas le pouvoir ni la compétence pour intervenir sur les points précis regardant l'entrée de la Turquie dans l'Union européenne, a-t-il ajouté. Cependant, il voit positivement et encourage le chemin de dialogue et d'insertion de la Turquie dans l'Europe sur la base des valeurs communes ». Le Saint-Siège n'avait jusqu'à présent pris aucune position officielle sur l'élargissement de l'Union et la curie romaine se montrait divisée sur le sujet. Rome clamait sa neutralité et rappelait seulement l'importance du respect des critères fixés par les Vingt-Cinq, en particulier le respect de la liberté religieuse et d'« une saine laïcité ».

C'est parce que la Turquie, constitutionnellement laïque, « est un pont entre Orient et Occident, un croisement entre religions et cultures » qu'elle constitue un laboratoire et que son dialogue avec l'Europe pourrait être fructueux, a déclaré Benoît XVI. « En Europe, nous avons un débat entre laïcité et laïcisme et ceci me semble particulièrement important dans le dialogue avec la Turquie », a-t-il expliqué aux journalistes de sa suite. « Nous, Européens, devons revoir notre raison laïque, laïciste. La Turquie doit, en partant de son histoire et de ses origines, réfléchir avec nous à comment construire pour l'avenir ce lien entre laïcité et tradition, entre une raison ouverte, tolérante, qui a pour élément fondamental la liberté », a-t-il souligné.

Islam et violence

Benoît XVI a ainsi rendu hommage à Ataturk en déposant une gerbe de fleurs rouges au mausolée du père de la Turquie moderne, qui avait pris pour modèle l'idée française de laïcité. « Il est du devoir des autorités civiles de tout pays démocratique de garantir la liberté effective de tous les croyants et de leur permettre d'organiser librement la vie de leur propre communauté », a rappelé le Pape au corps diplomatique à Ankara.

Benoît XVI a aussi tenu à clore la controverse de Ratisbonne. Il s'est longuement entretenu avec le grand mufti Ali Bardakoglu, directeur des affaires religieuses, qui s'était montré particulièrement sévère sur les propos du Pape concernant l'islam et la violence. Le chef de l'Église catholique a ainsi voulu montrer qu'il n'y avait pas un avant et un après Ratisbonne et redonner un objectif commun aux chrétiens et aux musulmans. Il leur a rappelé son « estime », son désir de « respect réciproque » et « d'un échange sincère entre amis ». C'est dans ce dialogue et la connaissance de l'autre que « les religions pourront affronter les nombreux défis de notre société », l'ouvrir « au transcendant » afin qu'elle reconnaisse à Dieu « la place qui lui revient ».

Pour le Pape, chrétiens et musulmans doivent refuser le recours à la violence et ne pas réclamer le pouvoir, mais faire reconnaître « le rôle positif que recouvre les religions » afin de mettre l'homme « au centre de l'action politique, économique, culturelle et sociale ». En écho, Ali Bardakoglu a tenu à assurer au Pape que « les musulmans condamnent tout type de violence et de terreurs » et les « dérives islamophobes ».


Diplomatie papale

LE MONDE | 29.11.06 |
Juste avant d'atterrir à Ankara, mardi 28 novembre, Benoît XVI disait aux journalistes que son voyage en Turquie ne serait pas "politique". Il n'en a bien sûr rien été, et ce dès le premier jour. Dans le monde musulman, les braises allumées par ses mots malencontreux de Ratisbonne sur l'islam couvent encore et, à Istanbul, des extrémistes manifestent contre le pape le plus "antiturc" de l'histoire. Benoît XVI a rappelé d'emblée l'attachement de l'Eglise au dialogue avec l'islam. Et le premier ministre Erdogan a compris que son intérêt n'était pas de faire de mauvaises manières au pape, pour ne pas aggraver les réticences des pays de l'Union à l'égard de la Turquie.

La journée du pape à Ankara a utilement renouvelé le débat sur la place de la Turquie en Europe. Dans le climat tendu de cette visite, chaque mot de Benoît XVI était ciselé, chaque geste millimétré. La richesse de son histoire, sa situation de "pont" entre l'Occident et l'Orient, de "charnière" entre l'Europe et l'Asie, entre les cultures et les religions, font de la Turquie, a-t-il dit, un partenaire naturel de l'Union.

A première vue, c'est un revirement par rapport aux réticences que le cardinal Ratzinger avait exprimées en 2004 avant d'être élu pape : "Historiquement et culturellement, ce pays a peu à partager avec l'Europe." Le même se déclare prêt aujourd'hui à "encourager" la demande d'adhésion de la Turquie. Un soutien que M. Erdogan a apprécié. Le dialogue "vital" entre le christianisme et l'islam que Benoît XVI veut relancer va également dans le sens de cette "alliance des civilisations" pour laquelle milite le gouvernement turc avec des partenaires comme Kofi Annan ou l'Espagnol Zapatero.

Mais de quelle Turquie et de quelle Europe parle-t-on ? Sur cette question d'identité, le pape s'obstine. Il respecte la Turquie "laïque", se rend même au mausolée de Kemal Atatürk, le père de la Turquie moderne qui a eu comme "modèle" la France et sa Constitution laïque. Mais il distingue la laïcité et le "laïcisme", qu'il définit comme un système de séparation entre la sphère publique et des valeurs communes incluant la religion. Pour lui, la chance de la Turquie moderne, c'est le dialogue entre sa "tradition musulmane" et la "raison européenne".

La polémique de Ratisbonne a incité Benoît XVI à réfléchir sous un autre éclairage à la candidature européenne de la Turquie. Dans un pays laïque, à 99 % musulman, où la liberté de culte est reconnue, mais où les minorités chrétiennes réclament plus de liberté, le pape réclame une liberté religieuse "garantie institutionnellement et respectée effectivement". Une manière - qui ne plaira pas à Ankara - de rappeler que les critères d'adhésion dits de Copenhague comprennent le respect des minorités religieuses, et que c'est sur ce terrain aussi que sera attendue et jugée la Turquie.