ANKARA - The Turkish press Wednesday gave a cold welcome to the new pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, unanimously declaring him an enemy of Turkey`s bid to join the European Union.
Under almost identical headlines, newspapers highlighted Ratzinger`s opposition to the predominantly Muslim nation`s bid to join the EU and reminded their readers of the harsh remarks he had targetted Turkey with in the past.
"The new pope is an opponent of Turkey," the mass-selling Sabah daily said on its front-page, while the liberal Radikal grumbled: "He was Turkey`s last choice."
The popular Vatan daily quoted Ratzinger as saying that Turkey should make an alliance not with European but Arab countries and declared him an opponent of dialogue between Christianity and Islam.
The selection of the German cardinal may also upset Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the mass-selling Miliyet suggested, saying that Erdogan had privately spoken in favor of a moderate pope, unbiased against Turkey and had named as an example Italian cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi.
Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, has argued that allowing Ankara to join the EU would be "a huge mistake" that would run "counter to history."
04/20/2005 08:32 GMT