Muslims urge Pope not to visit Turkey

More than 20,000 Muslims in Istanbul yesterday held the biggest protest so far against Pope Benedict's controversial visit to Turkey this week.

The Pope, due to begin his first official visit to a Muslim country tomorrow, angered many Muslims in September with a speech they took as an insult to their religion.

Youths wearing headbands with Islamic slogans, beating drums and waving red-and-white Turkish flags chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) and "Pope don't come" at the peaceful rally.

"I cannot remain silent when the Prophet Mohammad is insulted. I love him more than myself," said Husamettin Aycan Alp, 25, a science student from Izmir in western Turkey.

He said Roman Catholic cardinals chose this Pope last year "because he is against Islam and (they) are concerned Islam is spreading in Europe".

The four-day visit is billed as an opportunity to heal rifts with the Muslim world after the Pope quoted a Byzantine emperor saying Islam was violent and irrational. He has said he does not share that view.

It will be closely followed by the Islamic world and is the most challenging of Pope Benedict's papacy so far.

Speaking in the Vatican yesterday, he said he wanted the visit to show his friendship for Turkey and its people. "Starting right now, I want to send a cordial greeting to the dear Turkish people, rich in history and culture. To these people and their representatives I express feelings of esteem and sincere friendship," he said in his noon address.

A visit to Istanbul's famous Sultanahmet, or Blue Mosque was added to the Pope's itinerary at the last minute, a move seen as a further attempt at reconciliation with the Muslim world.

His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, made the first visit by a Pontiff to a mosque during a trip to Damascus in 2001. Pope John Paul paid the last papal visit to Turkey in 1979.

The Islamist Felicity party that organised the protest under the banner "against the crusader alliance" - a reference to the crusaders who crossed Anatolia 1,000 years ago on their way to Jerusalem - had expected an attendance of at least 75,000.

"Muslims don't want the Pope in their lands. Look at the suffering which they spread in Palestine, Iraq and Chechnya. I link this to Christianity," said Ferdi Borekci, a 28-year-old architect.

Before becoming Pope, Benedict annoyed Turks by speaking out against Turkey's move to join the EU, saying it did not belong there because of its religion and culture.