KEY POINTS:
ISTANBUL - More than 20,000 Muslims in Istanbul today 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 today, 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 European Union, saying it did not belong there because of its religion and culture.
Turkey's ruling AK Party government has kept a low profile in preparations for this visit, with talks still in progress as to whether Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a pious Muslim, will meet him before leaving for a NATO summit in Riga.
With a general election due next year the AK Party, which has roots in political Islam, must balance a rise in nationalism as well as their support base among conservative Muslims.
Turkey is officially a rigidly secular country, but predominantly Muslim.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who will be absent during the Pope's visit, played down the controversy.
"We will of course show hospitality and we hope that this visit will be a way of ending misunderstandings between Muslims and Christians," Gul told a news conference.
"His message will be very important."
The main purpose of Benedict's visit is to meet the Istanbul-based leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, whom Turkish nationalists see as a tool of their ancient rival Greece.
Turkey plans tight security measures for the Pope, whose trip will include the capital Ankara, Istanbul -- formerly Constantinople -- and the site where the Virgin Mary is believed to have lived and died near Izmir on the Aegean coast.
(Additional reporting by Philip Pullella in Vatican City)
- REUTERS
