Turkey's ruling Islamic-rooted party has joined criticism of Pope Benedict XVI today by saying he would go down in history in the same league as leaders like Hitler and Mussolini for remarks he made on Islam.
A growing chorus of Muslim leaders, including those from Pakistan, Indonesia and Jordan, have called on the Pope to apologise for the remarks he made in a speech in Germany on Tuesday when he used the terms "jihad" and "holy war".
The comments by Salih Kapusuz, a deputy leader of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party, came a day after Turkey's top cleric asked Pope Benedict to take back recent remarks, escalating tensions before the pontiff's November visit.
Worshippers attend a demonstration against Pope Benedict after Friday prayers in Ankara
The Pope made his remarks on Islam in a speech in which he quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and an educated Persian on the truths of Christianity and Islam.
"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the Pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,'" he quoted the emperor as saying.
Pope Benedict added, "I quote," twice before pronouncing the phrases on Islam and described them as "brusque," while neither explicitly agreeing with nor repudiating them.
The Pope repeatedly quoted Manuel's argument that spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable, adding: "Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."
But Mr Kapusuz said the pontiff's remarks looked "like an effort to revive the mentality of the crusades.
"Benedict, the author of such unfortunate and insolent remarks is going down in history for his words. However . . . he is going down in history in the same category as leaders such as Hitler and Mussolini," he said.
His comments came despite the Vatican defending the Pope, saying the pontiff wanted to promote respect and dialogue toward other religions. A Vatican statement said the Pope had never meant to offend Islam.
Earlier today, Pakistan's parliament unanimously adopted a resolution condemning Pope Benedict XVI for making what it called "derogatory" comments about Islam.
The government's of Indonesia and Pakistan, have also criticised the Pope's comments by saying that his comments could hurt religious harmony.
"This statement has hurt sentiments of the Muslims," Pakistan's National Assembly resolution said. "This is also against the charter of the United Nations. This house demands the Pope retract his remarks in the interest of harmony among different religions of the world."
"The Pope's statements reflect his lack of wisdom. It is obvious from the statements that the Pope doesn't have a correct understanding of Islam," said Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Islamic organisation in Indonesia.
He said the remarks could hurt "harmonious" relations between Muslims and Catholics and urged Muslims against reacting excessively. "Whether the Pope apologises or not, the Islamic community should show that Islam is a religion of compassion," he said.
In Jordan Sheikh Hamza Mansour, who heads the Shura Council of the Islamic Action Front, the country's largest opposition party, said only a personal apology could rectify the "deep insult made by the provocative comments" to over one billion Muslims.
"The Pope is accusing Islamic theology of being disrespectful of mind and logic . . . this is a distortion and shows ignorance, vengeance and vindictiveness against Islam," he said
Mr Mansour denied Islam was a religion of bloodshed, saying Christians had a more violent history of internal wars than Muslims over the centuries. "Europe has witnessed a lot of religious wars that Muslims never experienced . . . this talk that Islam is a religion of violence is unjust and shows prejudice and bigotry," he added.
"The religious leadership in Rome will see in the coming days what repercussions these statements will have on tolerance and religious harmony," he added.