Ali Bardakoglu, head of Türkiye's Directorate of Religious Affairs, sharply criticized Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday after the pontiff made statements about Islam that appeared in that day's newspapers. Bardakoglu called the remarks deeply troubling and damaging both to Christianity's reputation and to broader prospects for global harmony.
Bardakoglu demanded that the Pope retract his comments and issue a formal apology, saying biased views of Islam and its prophet are widespread in the Western world. He argued that the Western church has historically treated Islam as an adversary, pointing to the Crusades and the conquest of Istanbul as examples of violence carried out against Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Jews alike.
He accused Western clergy of harboring a lingering crusader mentality and urged the Pope to reflect on his own tradition before commenting on Islam. He said the papal statements fell outside any reasonable framework of interfaith respect and did not even qualify as legitimate criticism. Bardakoglu warned that deliberately disparaging another religion's sacred figures and texts amounted to hostility that risks inflaming tensions between religious communities.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in September 2006, in its own words.