Ankara, Turkey – Beside a narrow stone road, with the brilliant reds and blues of prayer rugs for sale acting like a canopy, Ugur Basci paused between sips of tea to say that East and West, Islam and Christianity can coexist peacefully, beautifully.
But, he said, such healing is unlikely to begin when Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Muslim Turkey on Tuesday for a four-day visit.
“We Muslims believe in reconciliation; that is clear,” said the 69-year-old merchant and Haji, meaning one who has made a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. “But this pope, it is clear to us that he does not. He does not respect Islam. He does not respect Turkey.”
The pope’s visit is shaping up as a mission behind enemy lines. A protest group took control last week of the famous Hagia Sophia, an Eastern Orthodox church in Istanbul that was converted into a mosque in 1453 and then into a museum in 1935, to protest the visit, but officials here dismiss Western fears for the pope’s safety.
“Will there be protests? Yes, of course,” said Meliha Benli Altunisik, chairman of international relations at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. “But I cannot take seriously the notion that he is in physical danger. He will rather be ignored.”
Turkey has almost 70 million residents but only about 93,000 Christians, according to State Department estimates.
