BY YILMAZ OZTUNA
TURKIYE- Pope Benedict XVI, just as Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian was on a visit to Turkey, let loose a bombshell. The pontiff said that Armenians had been subjected to genocide by Turks in 1915.
A furor ensued. The Vatican's delicate diplomatic balance has been lost. There are harsh accusations. The Turkish-Armenian rapprochement became anxious.
Most Armenians are Gregorian Orthodox, and a large minority is Catholic, while a small minority is Protestant. The Vatican's policy is to woo Orthodox believers, whatever country they are from, to increase Catholic hegemony. Centuries ago, when the pope was on the verge of swallowing the Orthodoxy (a Catholic ceremony was even held by a cardinal in Hagia Sofia) in the name of the Holy Roman Emperor, Mehmet the Conqueror's giving protection to the Orthodox patriarch and Orthodox believers was a huge blow to the pope and Catholics. It changed the history of Europe.
Turkey's denial of the title of the Fener patriarch, which is recognized by 200 states, and our move to close schools which were left untouched even by Mehmet the Conqueror and Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, are hampering our influence and harming Turkey.
The pope, who knows history better than us, couldn't hide his anxiety, looking through the lens of his nostalgia over his days in a Nazi youth group. He panicked over the possibility of rapprochement with Turkey of the Orthodox and Echmiadzin (Armenian) patriarchs.
In fact, Benedict didn't help the cause of world peace. He wanted to keep the hostility alive by agitating both sides. He forgot the Spanish Inquisition has a past full of genocides. He accused us, the Turks. It cast a shadow over our relations with the Vatican, where Turkey has an ambassador. We had assumed the pope was wiser than the irresponsible Western politicians who go after various interests.