TURKEY: Pope Benedict should use a planned trip to Turkey in November to rebuild ties with the Muslim world, badly strained by his comments which were seen by some as portraying Islam as a religion tainted by violence, analysts say.
The pope is due to make his first trip as pope to a Muslim land on November 28th to 30th. Ankara has said it wants the trip to go ahead despite Muslim anger that has only partially been quelled by the pope's expressions of regret.
And Catholic bishops met in Istanbul yesterday and decided the pope's visit to Turkey should go ahead, Vatican spokesman George Marovic said.
"It is better that he come. It can help repair relations. The fact that he will be in Turkey can help Muslims see he is a man of goodwill," said Mehmet Dulger, head of the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee.
Dogu Ergil of Ankara University echoed this view.
"His trip will provide a window of opportunity to rephrase what he said, to show that he does not accept the negative stereotypes of Islam often found in the Western world," he said.
Even before his latest remarks on Islam, Turks were distrustful of Pope Benedict, who before becoming pope said Turkey as a non-Christian country would not fit into the EU.
"The pope should come here but he should give a message that he now supports Turkey's efforts to join the European Union," said Cengiz Aktar of Istanbul's Bahcesehir University.
"He should make clear he sees this bid as part of the answer to the 'clash of civilisations'," he said, referring to US scholar Samuel Huntington's best-selling book. But Mr Aktar added he was not optimistic the pope would make such a gesture.
Hasan Unal of Ankara's Bilkent University said it was telling that EU politicians opposed to Turkey's EU membership, such as German chancellor Angela Merkel, had rushed to defend the pope in the present row.
The pope's visit is expected to trigger protests by Turkish nationalists and Islamists long distrustful of the Vatican and now fearful his comments herald a new Christian "crusade".
"Official Turkey cannot afford to disinvite the pope, but the government will not stop popular protests that will help to show that his thinking about Islam is unacceptable in this part of the world," said Mr Ergil.