Istanbul Not Constantinople

Pope Benedict XVI is certainly a brave man. He arrived in Turkey for an official visit despite the threats and protests being made by thugs hiding behind a religious mask. The prime minister of Turkey met the Pope's airplane when it landed in Istanbul.

Two months after the pope touched off fury across the Islamic world with remarks linking violence and Prophet Muhammad, the Turkish prime minister — in a last-minute change of plans — was on hand at the airport in Turkey's capital to greet the pontiff.

"All feel the same responsibility in this difficult moment in history, let's work together," Benedict said during his flight from Rome to Ankara, where more than 3,000 police and sharpshooters joined a security effort that surpassed even the visit of President Bush two years ago.

The pope used his first moments of his four-day trip to try to mend fences with Islamic leaders.

"We know that the scope of this trip is dialogue and brotherhood and the commitment for understanding between cultures … and for reconciliation," he told reporters on his plane.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the pope at the foot of the plane.

"I want to express happiness to see you and your delegation in our country," Erdogan told the pope before meeting with him privately. He described the pope's visit as "very meaningful."

Erdogan, who was bound for a NATO summit in Latvia, had only announced the day before that he would make time to meet Benedict in a nation where many people view the pope with suspicion. Erdogan's political party has Islamic roots, though the government is secular.

In his first official act, Benedict visited the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, and wrote a message in a guest book calling Turkey "a meeting point of different religions and cultures and a bridge between Asia and Europe."

Erdogan also called for Turks to honor the traditional conventions of hospitality and to reject provocations by marginal groups. Whereupon one of said marginal groups immediately tried to return Turkey to the Middle Ages:

On Monday, a group of 100 pro-Islamic demonstrators displayed a petition demanding that the Haghia Sophia, now a museum in Istanbul, be declared a mosque and opened to worship for Muslims.

The Haghia Sophia was built in the 6th century as a Christian church, but was converted to a mosque in 1453 when Islamic armies conquered the city — then a Christian metropolis called Constantinople.

One wishes the media would get the terminology right. Islamists seek temporal power by hiding behind Islam. But they are not "Islamic".

By the way, for those who are unaware of how Mustafa Kemal Ataturk dragged Turkey into the modern world here's the Wikipedia entry. Many of the islamists want to drag it back out.