Turk shoots at Italy consulate over Pope visit
Source: Reuters
(Adds background) By Daren Butler ISTANBUL, Nov 2 (Reuters) - A man fired a weapon in front of the Italian consulate in Istanbul on Thursday to protest against Pope Benedict's visit to the predominantly Muslim country later this month, raising concern over the Pontiff's safety there. "I did what every Muslim has do to. God willing, the Pope will not come to Turkey, but if he does he will see what will happen to him," 26-year-old Ibrahim Ak told the DHA news agency while sitting in a police car after he was detained. Benedict's first visit to Turkey on Nov. 28-Dec. 1 has been overshadowed by Muslim anger since a lecture he gave in September at a German university in which he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor in a passage seen as critical of the Prophet Mohammad. "We think that this is something that is an isolated incident and does not disturb the overall calm preparations for the trip," chief Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told Reuters. But the visit has stirred controversy in a country which came out with the strongest criticism of the Pope's speech and nationalists and Islamic activists have pushed for the trip to be cancelled. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a pious Muslim, has decided not to meet the Pope because of a busy schedule, a move Italian commentators said amounted to a diplomatic snub. Vatican observers said they could not recall an occasion when a head of government did not meet a visiting pope. "If an opportunity arises for Erdogan to meet the Pope during his visit he will do so, but at the moment that looks very difficult given the busy schedule," a Turkish government official told Reuters. AGCA WARNING The leader of more than 1 billion Catholics has several times expressed regret for the reaction to his speech but has stopped short of the unequivocal apology wanted by some Muslims. The Pope has even been warned to stay away by the man who attempted to kill his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, in 1981. "As someone who knows these matters well, I say your life is in danger. Don't come to Turkey," said Mehmet Ali Agca in comments released in September by his lawyer. Agca is now serving a jail sentence in Istanbul for murder and robbery. Pope John Paul publicly forgave Agca four days after the shooting in St Peter's Square and again when he visited him in his cell in 1983. Agca was pardoned at the Pope's request in 2000 after 19 years in an Italian jail. The main purpose of Pope Benedict's visit is to meet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians. But many Turks fear the trip will increase the popularity of non-Muslim religions or threaten the country's secularism. "We do not want the Pope to visit our country. It is time for democratic reaction to protect the unity of the secular republic of Turkey," Kemal Kerincsiz, a powerful nationalist lawyer and member of the Great Lawyers Union, said on Wednesday. Violence against Roman Catholic clergy in Turkey has risen in the past year. In the most serious incident, a youth shot dead an Italian priest while he prayed in his church in the Black Sea port of Trabzon. A French priest survived a knife attack in Samsun, also on the Black Sea and a Slovenian Franciscan friar received death threats. (Additional reporting by Zerin Elci in Ankara and Philip Pullella in Rome)
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