Turkey's top Muslim official repeated in the presence of Pope Benedict that Islam was not a religion of violence and that arguing so can only encourage those who abuse religion to do wrong.

Ali Bardakoglu, who heads Ankara's Directorate General for Religious Affairs which controls Turkish imams and writes their sermons, said all Muslims were offended by accusations that their religion was violent.

"Such accusations and attempts can only serve to encourage those who perform wrong-doing on behalf of religion by way of exploitation," he said in a speech.

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