Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday publicly called on Pope Benedict XVI to retract and apologize for comments the pontiff made about Islam, joining a broad wave of international criticism directed at the Vatican leader.
Erdogan said the remarks were unacceptable to him personally and to the wider Muslim world, adding that he hoped the pope would correct the error quickly enough to preserve interfaith dialogue. When asked whether the controversy might affect the pope's scheduled late-November visit to Türkiye, Erdogan said he was uncertain.
The uproar stems from a university lecture Benedict delivered in Germany, in which he cited a 14th-century Byzantine emperor's harsh characterization of the Prophet Mohammed and the spread of Islam. The Vatican later clarified that the pope respects Islam and opposes religiously motivated violence.
The episode deepened existing tensions in Türkiye, where a lawmaker from Erdogan's governing Justice and Development Party compared the pope to Hitler and Mussolini. Benedict had previously drawn Turkish anger as a cardinal by opposing Türkiye's bid to join the European Union, a membership Ankara views as a bridge between Eastern and Western civilizations.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in September 2006, in its own words.