Chicane

The most sensitive moment of Benedict's visit may be his walk through the Haghia Sophia, a museum in Istanbul that was built as a Christian church in the sixth century and converted into a mosque in 1453 when Islamic armies conquered the city, then called Constantinople.

The visit to Turkey will be a test of whether the Pope can soften some of the Christian-Muslim tensions that boiled over after he quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of Islam's Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman."

Ironically, the Christian church has deep roots in what is today Turkey, a land that has also been the stage of Christian and Muslim confrontations, most notably during the Crusades.
The region hosted some of the most important Christian events, including the first Council of Nicea - in present-day Iznik - in AD 325, which established a Christian doctrine.
All seven major churches of early Christianity, mentioned in The New Testament, are in present-day Turkey. The Pope will make a pilgrimage to one of them at Ephesus.
St. John the Apostle is said to have brought the Virgin Mary to Ephesus, where she is believed to have spent the final years of her life, while St. Paul travelled through much of modern-day Turkey on his missionary journeys.
Constantinople - modern-day Istanbul - was the former Christian Byzantine capital for more than 1,000 years until 1453, when it fell to Muslim forces and became the seat of the Muslim Ottoman Empire.
Today, the city remains the centre of Orthodoxy, with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, considered "the first among equals" among the Orthodox leadership. Membership is dwindling.
The future of the Church, however, is also threatened by the closure by Turkish authorities in 1971 of Halki seminary on an island off Istanbul, which trained generations of Greek Orthodox patriarchs. Turkey requires that the patriarch be a Turkish citizen and would not accept foreign-trained seminarians. With Halki closed, a successor to 66-year-old Bartholomew may be hard to find.
The Armenian Orthodox community, whose seminary is also closed, faces the same challenge.
Both Greek and Armenian communities are struggling to recover property that was nationalized and confiscated in the 1970s.
Under EU pressure, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government has taken some steps toward improving the rights of religious minorities, changing laws to allow them to re-appropriate some lost property. The government has also indicated willingness to reopen the minority seminaries, but has failed to find a formula that conforms with the country's secular laws.
Even though Turkey is secular and Turks are considered moderately religious, conversion to Christianity is widely viewed as treacherous. Authorities often report students who attend Christian meetings to their families to prevent possible conversions. Some media portray converts and Christian clergy as missionaries or spies for western powers. Proselytizers are detained and extradited.
The mistrust is so deep that non-Muslims are barred from joining the police force or the military.
In February, a Turkish teenager shot dead a Roman Catholic priest, Rev. Andrea Santoro, as he knelt in prayer in his church in the Black Sea port of Trabzon, in an attack believed to be linked to widespread anger in the Islamic world over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of Prophet Muhammad. Two other Catholic priests were attacked this year.
Nationalists have disrupted some church services. The Ankara Kurtulus Church, linked to the U.S.-based International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, has had its windows smashed twice by suspected nationalists. No one was injured.

Here are some of his most memorable announcements regarding Islam and the EU.
Comments made during trip to Turkey
"I hope this visit contributes to peace and dialogue between faiths." — Dec. 1.
"You know well that the church wishes to impose nothing on anyone, and that she merely asks to live in freedom."— Dec. 1.
"I have wanted to convey my personal love and spiritual closeness, together with that of the universal church, to the Christian community here in Turkey, a small minority which faces many challenges and difficulties daily."— Nov. 29.
"We know that the scope of this trip [to Turkey] is dialogue and brotherhood, and the commitment for understanding between cultures . . . and for reconciliation."— Nov. 29.
Comments made before trip to Turkey
"At this time, I wish also to add that I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims. These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought. Yesterday, the cardinal secretary of state published a statement in this regard in which he explained the true meaning of my words. I hope that this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect."— Sept. 17
"As for the opinion of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus which he quoted during his Regensburg talk, the Holy Father did not mean, nor does he mean, to make that opinion his own in any way. He simply used it as a means to undertake — in an academic context, and as is evident from a complete and attentive reading of the text — certain reflections on the theme of the relationship between religion and violence in general, and to conclude with a clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence, from whatever side it may come."— Vatican statement, Sept. 16
Quoting Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus: "Show me just what Muhammad 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."— Sept. 12, in a speech at the University of Regensburg
Quoting Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus: "Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. 'God,' he says, 'is not pleased by blood — and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats.' "— Sept. 12, in a speech at the University of Regensburg
Other quotes
"[Christians] are called to open their arms and hearts to everyone, whatever their country of origin, leaving the task of formulating appropriate laws for the promotion of healthy existence to the authorities responsible for public life."— May 16
"In the international context we are living at present, the Catholic Church continues convinced that, to foster peace and understanding between peoples and men, it is necessary and urgent that religions and their symbols be respected."— On the Muhammad cartoons, Feb. 20
"For believers, as for all people of good will, the only path that can lead to peace and fraternity is respect for the convictions and religious practices of others." — On the Mohammed cartoons, Feb. 20
Comments before he was elected Pope on April 15, 2005
"The roots that have formed Europe, that have permitted the formation of this continent, are those of Christianity. Turkey has always represented another continent, in permanent contrast with Europe. There were the [old Ottoman Empire] wars against the Byzantine Empire, the fall of Constantinople, the Balkan wars, and the threat against Vienna and Austria. It would be an error to equate the two continents … Turkey is founded upon Islam … Thus the entry of Turkey into the EU would be anti-historical."— 2005
"The rebirth of Islam is due in part to the new material richness acquired by Muslim countries, but mainly to the knowledge that it is able to offer a valid spiritual foundation for the life of its people, a foundation that seems to have escaped from the hands of old Europe."— 2004
"Europe was founded not on a geography, but on a common faith. We have to redefine what Europe is, and we cannot stop at positivism."— 2004
"Europe must recover its Christian roots, if it truly wants to survive."— 2004
"It is true that the Muslim world is not totally mistaken when it reproaches the West of Christian tradition of moral decadence and the manipulation of human life … Islam has also had moments of great splendour and decadence in the course of its history."— March 6, 2002