Pope is coming to Turkey

[CapaJr]

he is coming on tuesday. its going to be interesting cause i think its the first a religious authority like him will be visiting a muslim nation.
interesting

 

[Hendrik]

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's top Muslim official said on Thursday Pope Benedict should state clearly during a planned visit to Turkey next week he believes Islam, like Christianity, to be a religion of peace.

Benedict infuriated Muslims worldwide in September with a lecture that appeared to portray Islam as an irrational religion tainted by violence. Benedict later expressed regret over the pain his remarks caused but stopped short of a full apology.

"I think the attitude the Pope should take is that neither Islam nor Christianity is a source of violence," said Ali Bardakoglu, who heads Ankara's Directorate General for Religious Affairs which controls Turkish imams and writes their sermons.

"If they ask me if Christianity has been the cause of violence, I would say no, that is not so ... We believe all prophets sent by God, from Moses to Jesus and Mohammad, are messengers of compassion," he told Reuters in an interview.

Violence committed in the name of religion was the fault of fallible and misguided human beings, he said.

"I believe the Pope shares this view and his saying this will be in the interests of all humanity," he said.

Bardakoglu, who meets the Pope next Tuesday at the start of the four-day visit, said in September Benedict must apologize for his remarks and should reconsider his trip to Turkey.

But he told Reuters it was now time to look to the future and said the Pope would receive a hospitable reception in the overwhelmingly Muslim country.

He said he would be happy to explain to the Pope the "unbreakable" link between reason and faith in Islam, citing the historic achievements of Islamic science and learning.

PROTESTS

Turkey plans tight security measures for the Pope, whose trip takes in the capital Ankara, the commercial and culture hub of Istanbul and the site where the Virgin Mary is believed to have lived and died near Izmir on the Aegean coast.

Bardakoglu said Turkey was a free country where people had the democratic right to protest.

"But any street protests will not reflect the mainstream hospitable attitude of Turkey," he added.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, a pious Muslim, said he expected the Pope to give positive statements that would improve ties between Christians and Muslims.

"I believe it will create a new climate," Gul told Reuters.

"He may make some good statements, saying we have only one God although we have different religions. We have sympathy for each other and we should not exploit the differences in a negative way."

The Pope is due to hold talks during his visit with the Istanbul-based spiritual head of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew, who has complained of property and other restrictions his church faces in Turkey.

Bardakoglu defended Turkey's treatment of its tiny Christian community and of other religious minorities.

"If the Pope says Christians in Turkey are mistreated, I will tell him that he has been seriously misinformed," he said.

"For example, we give support to Christians settling in our holiday resorts when they want to build churches. We say this is their natural right and this is guaranteed by laws," he said, referring to a growing number of Europeans retiring in Turkey.

Bardakoglu also signaled he was ready to tackle the Pope over Turkey's bid to join the European Union. Before becoming Pope, Benedict spoke out against Turkey joining the EU, saying it did not belong there because of its religion and culture.

"The European Union as a Christian club would pave the way for other similar groupings that would seriously hurt the cause of world peace. For that reason, I think it important that the EU be based on common values rather than religion," he said.

So, in other words, they expect the Pope to lie. Or they are trying to get the old man to laugh himself to death.

 

[d3adly]

this could well turn out to be a mess.

 

[Run DMB]

Should go better than Pat Robertson's visit to Venezuela.

 

[King]

Why is he going to turkey?

 

[didy]

becuse he is the pope.

 

[yoyo913]

*waiting for picture of angry arabs*

 

[didy]

Turks are not Arabs.

 

[Hans]

Turks are not Arabs.

But when a brother Muslim is offended, all of the Muslim all over the world, either black, white, yellow, green or orange will riot....

 

[didy]

how is a Muslim brother offended by the popes visit to Turkey?

 

[Hans]

how is a Muslim brother offended by the popes visit to Turkey?

I was refering at the Pope's previous comments....

 

[Sir Calumn]

Interesting decision. I suspect it will probably go smoothly and without any problems, but at the end of the day will achieve absolutely nothing.

 

[::shinji::]

oh I'm sure we'll see the usual burning of effigies, death to *insert name here* chants, etc...

 

[INFESTA]

Never thought I'd say this, but THANK YOU Pope for making sure Turkey will never be a part of the EU.

 

[Krypton X]

There are alot of conservative Muslims who are still incensed at the Pope's comments from a few months ago, where he quoted someone saying that Islam is an evil religion. But the staunchly secular Turkish government usually gags such voices and doesn't give them much media attention and suppresses any form of dissent.

But this time things are a little different, some government officials have spoken out against the Pope's visit and said he shouldn't be allowed to visit Turkey at all, several groups of nationalist Turks (secular people) are organising large protests to coincide with the Pope's visit (they already had one a few days ago where they occupied the Hagia Sophia). They are claiming its because he offended Muslims. But in reality they are angry at Pope Benedict's position on Turkey joining the EU, which differs from that of the last Pope who welcomed Turkey into Europe.
They think they are being discriminated against for no reason other than them being Muslims.

 

[CapaJr]

*waiting for picture of angry arabs*

i was going to give you the kind of answer you deserve, but why should i even bother? its clear that level of education & intelligence you have is no match to what i have. otherwise, you would have been better informed about cultures around the world.
just do me a favor and never call turks arab again.


and for pope's visit, i m confident his visit to cathedrals in istanbul will go smoothly and this will be a perfect opputurnity for both cultures to find peace again, because Turkey is the best combination of both the western and the muslim world.

 

[King]

Why is pope going to turkey?

 

[Ubik Valis]

To eat kebab and watch the Fener-Gala derby.

 

[CapaJr]

Why is pope going to turkey?

he is invited from the ecumenical patriarch of the eastern orthodox church in Istanbul, he will be visiting Istanbul, Ankara and Ephesus.

and yes, there are some extrimists that are opposing this visit, thats because of a speech he made in sept 12, 2006 at the University of Regensburg, Germany.
he basically said "For Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with rationality"
Pope Benedict is rather an interesting individual, its been said by some sources that he was a member of a neo-nazi organization when he was a teenager. (when he was 14)

Anyway.. Lets see how it goes

 

[CapaJr]

To eat kebab and watch the Fener-Gala derby.

i'm not sure if you really knew that because that derby is infact next weekend so that really might be the case