ANKARA, Turkey — When Pope Benedict travels to Turkey next week, he will be protected by a massive security operation amid fears the visit may touch off a renewed wave of anger over his recent comments linking Islam to violence.
Turkey — which is striving to show the world it is a modern country ready to join the European Union — is sparing no effort to make sure the visit passes without a hitch: an army of snipers, bomb disposal experts, riot police and anti-terrorism agents will deploy at each of Benedict's stops.
Police helicopters will hover above the cities of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir during the Nov. 28-Dec. 1 trip, while navy commandos with machine-guns will patrol the waters of the Bosphorus Straits in inflatable boats.
Benedict's first trip to a Muslim country comes at a time of heightened tensions between the West and Islam. And it is the Pope himself who has recently been at the centre of those tensions.
The Muslim world erupted in protest after the Pope delivered a speech in September in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman,” particularly “his command to spread by the sword the faith.”
The controversy died down after the Pope expressed regret for causing offence, but there are concerns festering resentments may be reignited when the Pope touches down on Turkish soil.
On Nov. 2, a man fired shots outside the Italian consulate in Istanbul to protest Benedict's visit, shouting that he would strangle the Pope. The man was arrested, but the incident revived haunting memories of the 1981 assassination attempt on the late Pope John Paul II by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca in Rome.
Mr. Agca, who has said he wants to be released from jail and meet Benedict during his trip, previously warned that the Pope's life would be in danger if he came to Turkey.
Predicting big street protests, authorities plan to close several areas of downtown Istanbul to traffic and are preparing lists of residents living in those neighbourhoods.
“If this trip would have occurred under normal conditions, then these lands, the centre of tolerance and love, would show the necessary hospitality to him,” said a statement from the opposition pro-Islamic Felicity party, which is calling for a massive anti-Benedict protest on Sunday in Istanbul.
“But we don't want to see him on our soil because of the remarks he made about Islam's Prophet Muhammad on Sept. 12 and for not apologizing afterward.”
Turkish security forces have had plenty of experience in protecting world leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush. The military is one of the most powerful institutions in the country, a highly trained force that enjoys widespread veneration. Its expertise boosts chances that the Pope will be in safe hands as he travels through Turkey.
Still, senior anti-terrorism police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said they were concerned that some anti-Pope protests could turn violent.
Several radical Islamic groups are active in Turkey, including local elements of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, al-Qaeda. The group was blamed for killing 58 people in a wave of suicide bombings against synagogues and British interests in Istanbul three years ago. About 70 alleged al-Qaeda operatives, who were implicated in the attacks, are on trial.
Mr. Bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, has compared the pontiff to Pope Urban II, who in 1095 ordered the First Crusade to establish Christian control in the Holy Land.
A recent Turkish novel, Plot Against the Pope by Yucel Kaya, feeds off negative feelings toward the Pope, weaving a conspiracy theory involving the conservative Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei, the once-powerful and secretive Italian P2 Masonic Lodge and U.S. intelligence services. The aim of the conspiracy, the novel says, is to prepare an attack on Iran, Turkey's eastern neighbour.
The book's cover features the Pope in front of a burning cross with a bearded gunman taking aim at him. Its subtitle reads, Who will kill the pope in Istanbul?
Anger at the West was growing in Turkey even before the Pope's comments.
A Turkish teenager shot dead a Catholic priest, Rev. Andrea Santoro, as he knelt in prayer inside his church on Feb. 5 in the Black Sea Turkish port city of Trabzon. Following the killing of Santoro, two more Catholic clerics were assaulted in Turkey.
The attacks were believed to be related to widespread anger in the Islamic world over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of Muhammad.
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