Pope seeks reconciliation in Turkey

Pope Benedict XVI set off on the most difficult journey of his papacy Tuesday, traveling to this predominantly Muslim country where he lavished his hosts with friendly overtures and softened his long-standing opposition to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

Hoping to soothe anger over what many Turks see as his anti-Islamic bias, the pope called for brotherhood and a healthy dialogue with Muslims, and he repeatedly described the common ground between Islam and Christianity.

“The best way forward is via authentic dialogue between Christians and Muslims, based on truth and inspired by a sincere wish to know one another better, strengthening the bonds of affection between us in our common wish to live together in harmony, peace and mutual trust,” the pope said.

But he did not back away from the message central to his world view, choosing a speech to the Ankara-based diplomatic corps to denounce violence cloaked in religious fervor and to plead for broader religious freedom, especially for minority Christian communities.

Security for Benedict’s first trip to a Muslim country was especially tight. Everywhere he went in the Turkish capital, snipers were on rooftops and helicopters hovered overhead. At the airport, a row of military commandos ringed the tarmac and a second surrounded the pope’s airplane, their bandoliers of ammunition glistening in the midday sun.

Demonstrations such as the one Sunday, where thousands of people demanded that the pope stay away, failed to materialize.

But it was clear this was a papal trip like no other. The welcoming ceremony at Ankara’s airport was so understated you would have missed it if you blinked: no marching bands, no singing children, no state anthems.

On the pope’s route into town, there were no crowds waving. The only onlookers seemed to be people waiting, somewhat glumly, for the highway to reopen.

Benedict was greeted at the airport by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who until the last minute said he did not have time to receive the pope. Erdogan was on his way to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Latvia. The two leaders chatted inside a terminal building and exchanged gifts. Erdogan then emerged to announce the pope had indicated he supported Turkey’s decades-long bid to join the European Union.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi issued a statement clarifying that the Holy See had no say in EU membership but “views positively” Turkey’s pursuit. It was a reversal for Benedict, who as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger opposed Turkey’s inclusion because it was a Muslim nation “in permanent contrast” with a majority Christian continent.

The shift on EU membership is significant because the 25-nation bloc will decide next month whether to continue talks with Turkey, which has fallen behind in key political and economic reforms it is obliged to undertake.

Encouragement on the membership bid was one of many conciliatory gestures the pope made on the first day of his four-day visit.

Benedict had enraged much of the Muslim world with a speech he made in September at the University of Regensburg in Germany, in which he linked Islam to violence and quoted a Byzantine emperor who regarded the religion founded by the prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhumane.”

Striking a much more diplomatic pose Tuesday, the pope praised Turkey as a “bridge between East and West, between Asia and Europe, a crossroads of cultures and religions.”

He told reporters aboard his flight to Turkey that his trip was a mission to promote dialogue and the search for understanding and reconciliation “in this difficult moment in history.”

Benedict’s first official act in Ankara was to place a carnation wreath at the stark, stone mausoleum dedicated to Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Ataturk, picking up the pieces of the defeated Ottoman Empire, instituted a rigid form of secularism that forbade public displays of faith, which human rights advocates charge is used today to hem in Christian minorities.

Erdogan’s moderate Islamic government has sought, gingerly, to loosen some of the restrictions and allow the worship of Islam in open society.

Perhaps surprisingly, Benedict might be an ally for Erdogan in that struggle. Although the pope praised Turkey’s adoption of a “modern secular regime,” he cautioned in his comments to reporters that an exaggerated, sterile secularism, as often practiced in the West, is “a dead-end street.”

The pope’s most sustained public appearance Tuesday was on a stage shared with one of his strongest critics, Ali Bardakoglu, the head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate. In his position as the nation’s highest religious authority, Bardakoglu oversees all mosques and imams, and he was one of the first and loudest to criticize Benedict’s speech in Regensburg.

Wearing a white ceremonial headdress and robe, Bardakoglu delivered a polite but firm statement to Benedict, who sat patiently to one side during their meeting in the directorate headquarters.

He recalled the history of Anatolia, the land known as Asia Minor that today forms most of eastern Turkey, as a “harbor and cradle” of major religions and cultures.

Bardakoglu lamented an escalation in “Islamophobia” that he blamed for some people portraying his faith as being linked to violence, an allusion to Benedict.

Muslims “are offended by such accusations and claims, which are not based on any historical fact,” Bardakoglu said. “It should not be forgotten that such accusations can only serve to encourage those who perform wrongdoings on behalf of religion by way of exploitation.”

Speaking casually during an exchange of gifts, Benedict said religions needed to be based on “peace and reconciliation -- they should not be interpreted otherwise.”

Later, he told the diplomatic corps that religions must “utterly refuse” to sanction violence, and they should not seek to exercise direct political power. But their members should be allowed to worship freely.

The pope may have been referring to the plight of Christians in Turkey, and his remarks point up the complexity of his mission.

Benedict is seeking to repair a damaged relationship with Turkey’s Muslim majority but also needs to lend support to its dwindling Christian population, which complains of harassment and discrimination.

“Every gesture, every word of the pontiff is awaited with impatience,” the leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera editorialized on its front page Tuesday.

A major Turkish newspaper, Milliyet, said Benedict’s visit was “a historic chance to scatter black clouds between the Islamic and the Western world.”

A banner headline in another Turkish paper, the pro-Islamic Vakit, said, “Unwelcome guest.”

Ordinary Turks were of mixed minds.

“I listened to him. He is clearly trying to compensate for what he said [in Regensburg], but it is not enough,” said Kezban Turkoglu, a 32-year-old secretary wearing a head scarf. “He did not apologize. He is calling for freedom of religion, but freedom does not only belong to Christians.”

Businessman Ertan Kuscu, 38, was more pragmatic.

“I don’t like him, but he is more than welcome if his presence here will be beneficial for the image of Turkey.”

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wilkinson@latimes.com

Times special correspondent Duygu Guvenc in Ankara contributed to this report.