Turkey invites Pope in 2006

Muslim Turkey yesterday invited Pope Benedict to visit in 2006, deftly sidestepping a diplomatic conundrum that had risked embarrassing Ankara shortly before the start of its European Union entry talks.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Turkey-based head of the world's 300 million-strong Orthodox Church, recently invited Pope Benedict to Istanbul on November 30 for St Andrew's Feast Day and the Vatican has indicated the Pontiff's desire to accept.

But Turkish authorities were uncomfortable with such timing, not least because Pope Benedict said before becoming Pope that he opposed Turkey's EU bid. Ankara starts its EU talks on October 3.

"The President... has invited Pope Benedict XVI on an official visit to Turkey in 2006," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement. "(He will be able to) observe the current inter-cultural environment of tolerance in Turkey, which is based on basic individual freedoms, and to contribute to efforts to build a global dialogue between religions," the statement said.

Pope Benedict is keen to improve ties with the eastern churches as part of his drive to strengthen Christian unity, but the patriarch's invitation had put Ankara in an awkward position.

To oppose the visit would have hurt Turkey's image in Europe, especially in Catholic countries such as Austria and France already sceptical about Ankara's drive to join the EU.

But allowing the visit to go ahead so soon after the start of talks carried a high risk of protests by nationalist Turks deeply suspicious of the Christian churches, which they see bent on weakening and dividing Turkey.

While still a German cardinal, Pope Benedict said Turkey should not join the EU because it has a fundamentally different culture to that of predominantly Christian Europe.

"Inviting the Pope in 2006 is a wise move. And because it is an official invitation he comes as a head of state, not just as a religious leader. It is easier that way for Turkey to take things under control," said Dogu Ergil of Ankara University.