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November 27, 2006

Turkey: Islamist Threats Cast Shadow Over Pope's Visit

Tomorrow, on November 28, Pope Benedict XVI will be making his first visit to a Muslim country when he arrives in Turkey. He will be staying until December 1. His visit will be viewed with interest by Muslims, Christians and non-Muslims alike. As Janet Daley writes in the Telegraph: "When Pope Benedict XVI flies to Turkey tomorrow, he will embody the most potentially incendiary confrontation between Islam and the West since the defeat of the Turks at Vienna in 1683 brought an end to Islamic conquest in Europe."

Background of Benedict's visit

The speech of Benedict XVI's address to Regensburg University on September 12, in which he called for a dialogue between Islam and Christianity, was widely seen by Muslims as an insult to their religion. Even though he cogently argued for faith to be tempered by reason, Benedict had also quoted from Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, who in around 1391 had said "show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

He condemned violence associated with religion, saying: "Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."

Benedict's forthright statements were never fully retracted, even though he apologized if any Muslims had taken offense. He invited about 20 Muslim representatives to Castel Gandolfo, his summer palace, on September 25. Here, he reiterated some of his Regensburg address, such as: "In a world marked by relativism and too often excluding the transcendence and universality of reason, we are in great need of an authentic dialogue between religions and between cultures, capable of assisting us, in a spirit of fruitful co-operation, to overcome all the tensions together." He reminded his audience of the words of John Paul II, his predecessor, who had said: "Respect and dialogue require reciprocity in all spheres."

Importantly, Benedict XVI mentioned the lack of religious freedom Christians have in Muslim countries.

By that time, Muslims had rampaged in Gaza, where several churches were attacked and a prominent cleric, Sheikh Abu Saqer, said that the green flag of Islam would soon be fluttering above the Vatican, and called the pontiff a "little racist".

Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Islamic association in Indonesia, which has 30 million members, had said: "The pope's statements reflect his lack of wisdom. It is obvious from the statements that the pope doesn't have a correct understanding of Islam."

In Pakistan, demonstrations had been made throughout the nation. On September 21 at Lahore, Punjab province, clerics issued a joint statement, which said that Benedict XVI should be removed for "encouraging war and fanning hostility between various faiths" and "making insulting remarks" against Islam.

The declaration by Pakistani imams and scholars said the "Pope, and all infidels, should know that no Muslim, under any circumstances, can tolerate an insult to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)...If the West does not change its stance regarding Islam, it will face severe consequences."

On Sunday September 17, the British Islamist Anjem Choudary led a demonstration of fanatics outside Westminster Abbey, in which Choudary declared that the Pope should be executed for "insulting" Islam.

A few days before the Castel Gandolfo meeting, Sister Leonella Sgorbati was shot in the back three times in a hospital in Somalia on September 16. The Islamists of Somalia claimed she had been killed as a reaction to Benedict's Regensburg address. At Castel Gandolfo, Benedict reminded his Muslim visitors that the last words on Sister Leonella's lips were "forgiveness".

Forgiveness is not a quality usually associated with Muslims who feel their faith has been "insulted". At Regensburg, in the university at which he had formerly taught, the Pope had spoken of violent jihad as "ungodly". Muslim extremists seemed prepared to prove him right.

The clerics who had issued a declaration in Lahore, condemning the Pope, also called for Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, founder of both Jamaat ud Dawa and the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to be released from house arrest. Shortly after his Castel Gandolfo meeting, Jamaat ud Dawa issued a fatwa against Benedict, which included the following:

Pakistan's Jamaat-ud-Dawa has issued a Fatwa asking the Muslim community to kill Pope Benedict for his blasphemous statement about Prophet Mohammad. The Jamaat-ud-Dawa has declared death to Pope Benedict  and said that in today's world blasphemy of the Holy Koran and the Prophet has become a fashion.

Jamaat ud Dawa is designated by the US as a terrorist organization, even though Pakistan refuses to outlaw the group.

In May, a US Christian missionary group released film of Islamists linked to Al Qaeda, who were using the headquarters of Jamaat-ud-Dawah in Mudrike, near Lahore, to traffick young Christian boys who had been kidnapped. These boys, imprisoned in chains, were kidnapped to be sold as slaves to gangs, who used them to gain money by begging.

On Friday, September 15, a Christian had been killed in Baghdad, apparently in response to Benedict's speech. In many Baghdad mosques, a poster was placed by a previously unknown group calling itself "Kataab Ashbal Al Islam Al Salafi", the Islamic Salafist Boy Scout Battalions. The posters said the group would kill all the Christians in Iraq if Benedict did not apologize for his comments.

On Monday, October 9, a Syriac-Orthodox priest, Father Paulos Iskander (Alexander), was kidnapped in Mosul, Iraq. His kidnappers demanded that notices be posted on Father Alexander's church door, apologizing for Benedict's speech, before any negotiations for release could begin. On Wednesday, Father Alexander's head was removed by his Muslim captors and his body dumped. A fourteen-year old boy was also crucified ("impaled") in the Christian neighborhood of Albasra.

On September 16, Turkey's Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the AKP (Justice & Development) party, criticized the Pope's Regensburg speech. He said: "The Pope spoke like a politician, not like a man of religion...In an era when a dialogue has been initiated between religions, values and civilisations, it is very unfortunate that these remarks have been made against Islam." He hinted that it would be unwise for Benedict to visit Turkey.

Earlier, Turkey's leading Islamic cleric, Ali Bardakoglu, head of the Religious Affairs Directorate, had condemned the Pope's Regensburg speech. He had said on Thursday, September 14, two days after the speech, that the Pontiff's comments were "extraordinarily worrying, saddening and unfortunate.". He said that if the Pope's words reflected the "spite, hatred and enmity" of others in the Christian world, then the situation was much worse. Bardakoglu said the speech had been full of "emnity and grudges".

Bardakoglu suggested that Benedict should not visit Turkey. He said: "I do not think any good will come from a visit to the Muslim world by a person who has such ideas."

Since then, Erdogan, who had earlier said that he would not be able to meet Benedict, because of a prior engagement at a NATA summit in Riga, arranged months before, has said that he will be meeting the Pope. He warned that "whoever comes here must show respect for the Prophet Muhammad." Ali Bardakoglu has also softened his stance, and he will be meeting the Pontiff on his visit. "Even if we don't agree with them, we always host our guests in a civilized manner," he said.

The Pope is also scheduled to meet Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the secularist president of Turkey.

Reactions within Turkey

The Pope's visit will also take in Ankara, the administrative capital, and also Istanbul, where he will visit the Blue Mosque. Benedict will briefly meet Erdogan at Ankara airport, and he will spend his first night at the Holy See embassy in Ankara. He will visit the Mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, also at Ankara. Benedict will also visit a tiny shrine, said to be the place where Mary, the mother of Christ, lived out out her final years. This shrine, which I have visited, is a small building, the House of Mary, nestled amongst olive trees on a hillside above the ruins of the city of Ephesus, where St Paul preached in the library. This beautiful location, formerly a port before it became landlocked, is near the city of Izmir on the west coast.

The Pope is expected to make mention of the murder of Father Andrea Santoro, who was shot in the back by a Muslim teenager on Sunday February 5, at his church, Santa Maria, in Trabzon, on the Black Sea coast in the east of Turkey. The 16-year old killer shouted "Allahu Ackbar" as he shot Father Santoro. Santa Maria Church was built in the 19th century during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I. Father Santoro had just finished holding Sunday Mass when he was murdered.

The incident happened as the Muslim world exploded in anger at the Danish cartoons of the "prophet" Mohammed, in violence which saw around 50 people losing their lives.

Shortly after the shooting of Father Santoro in February, a Slovenian priest was seized by the throat by young Turkish nationalists, and thrown into a garden in the city of Izmir, on the Aegean coast. The assailants were shouting "We will kill you!" and "Allahu Akbar" (Allah is Great). Also in Izmir, a church was hit with a small firebomb thrown at its roof. The arsonist said he was outraged by the Danish cartoons. On July 2, Father Santoro's temporary replacement, French priest Father Brunissen, was stabbed in the leg in the town of Samsun, west of Trabzon.

Primed with anger by the Danish cartoons and the Regensburg address, extremist Muslims in Turkey have been making their protests known. Some have issued death threats. But radical Muslims are not the only Turks to be against Benedict's visit.

Ultra-nationalists, loyal to the secular and independent Turkey created by Kemal Ataturk in 1923, have also been voicing their concerns. On Wednesday (November 22), 40 members of an ultra-nationalist group, the Grey Wolves, made a protest at the Haghia Sofia mosque. They were dispersed with tear gas. Haghia Sofia, formerly a Christian church before it became a mosque, is the center of its own controversies. Benedict had earlier planned on visiting this building, but it has since been removed from his itinerary.

Last month, as Archbishop Pierlugi Celata, former papal ambassador to Turkey, was scouting the city of Istanbul in preparation for Benedict's visit, a man lunged at him. At the start of this month, a man fired a gun outside the Italian consulate in Istanbul, protesting the visit of the Pontiff.

From his prison, Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who tried to kill John Paul II in 1981, warned that an attempt will be made upon Benedict's life.

Concerns for the Pope's safety have been so intense that the Vatican has forbidden the use of the famous "popemobile". Benedict will instead travel in an armored car, and other vehicles of an identical nature will also be used as decoys. Benedict will be wearing a bullet-proof vest during his visit.

In Istanbul, the head of police, Celalettin Cerrah, has said that the city would have maximum security, and he would call on other cities' police forces if needed.

The Pope will be meeting with the Orthodox leader, Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (pictured) on St Andrew's Day (November 30). The formerly Byzantine Patriarchate has existed in Istanbul long before the time when the Ottomans conquered Istanbul in 1453. The Ottomans allowed the Ecumenical (the word means "universal") Patriarchate to continue under their rule.

Necmettin Erbakan, the leader of the Islamist Saadet (Happiness or Contentment) Party (SP) has scorned Erdogan for bothering to meet the Pontiff, accusing him of wanting to kiss the hand of the man who, along with Patriarch Barlolomeos, is intending to try to re-establish Byzantium.

The Saadet Party yesterday held a massive rally in Istanbul, attended by 20,000 people. Though in the last elections Saadet gained only 1.2% of the vote, they have grand ambitions to be seen as the protectors of Islam within Turkey. They laid on 2,000 coaches for yesterday's rally, and claimed they would attract 1 million people. Among the crowd were also Turkish nationalists, who demanded an end to the "Crusader Alliance".

Vatican sources have claimed that ahead of his visit, Pope Benedict XVI is both "worried" and "hopeful". His worries stem from the fear that protests could end up politicizing the visit, and diminishing its ecumenical value.

He is said to be optimistic that his visit will strengthen relations between the Catholic and Orthodox church, and is said to be strengthened by "expressions of appreciation from Orthodox Christians".

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 27, 2006 1:44 PM

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