Thousands rally against pope's Turkey trip

Istanbul/Vatican City: Chanting slogans and brandishing banners against Western intervention in the Middle East, thousands of people rallied yesterday to denounce Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey which starts tomorrow.

The demonstration, organised by the Islamist Felicity Party (SP) and entitled "The pope is not welcome", attracted about 15,000 people, far below the 300,000 to one million that activists had predicted.

Hundreds of security forces, including riot police, were on watch at the Caglayan square in central Istanbul. The mix of religious and political slogans the protesters shouted reflected widespread suspicions among nationalists here that the landmark four-day visit is part of Western designs to subdue the Muslim world, rather than an effort to reconcile religions.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church triggered uproar across Muslim countries in September when in a speech he linked Islam and violence in quoting a Byzantine emperor who said that the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) brought "things only evil and inhuman".

Opponents of the visit say the pope's scheduled talks with Patriarch Bartho-lomew I, the Istanbul-based spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians, is aimed not only at healing the centuries-old schism between the two churches, but at sealing a Christian alliance against Islam.

The rally highlighted another sensitivity the pope's trip has touched here - his planned visit to Hagia Sophia, a sixth century Byzantine church which was converted to a mosque in 1453 when the Ottomans conquered Istanbul, then called Constantinople. It was transformed into a museum in 1935. "Break the chains, open Hagia Sophia," protesters chanted, echoing the desire for the edifice to be re-opened as a mosque.

Opponents believe the pope's planned visit to the building, one of Istanbul's architectural landmarks and a tourist attraction, is an indication of Christian ambitions to reclaim it as a church.

In Vatican City, Pope Benedict said yesterday that he wanted the visit to show his "esteem and sincere friendship" for the country and its people.

He asked people in St Peter's Square to pray for the success of the trip, which has become very delicate because of his comments on Islam and his questioning of Turkey's eligibility for European Union membership.

"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.