Sunday, November 05, 2006

Erdogan refuses to meet Pope during visit to Turkey
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (AU): PRESSURE is growing on Pope Benedict XVI to use a trip to Turkey this month to rebuild badly strained ties between the Vatican and the Muslim world.

Two new developments last week – a shooting incident at the Italian consulate in Istanbul and news that Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan would not meet him during his visit – have given an added edge to the visit from November 28 to December 1. Pressure on Pope to rebuild ties with Islam
Mark Alexander

6 comments:

Eleanor © said...

Of course the Islamic world expects the Pope to accept his role of dhimmi and know that he is subdued. He will be expected to apologize for quoting that long-dead Byzantine and to follow the lead of his would-be Muslim masters.

Soon, for survival, the headquarters of the Catholic Church will have to remove to another continent unless Europeans rise up and throw off the Muslim yoke that unrelentingly is tightening around their necks.

cybercrusader said...

Before the Pope goes too far down the road to apology, he would do well to listen the the warning of Anglican bishop Michael Nazir-Ali described in the post immediately before this one. Bishop Nazir-Ali's insight is extremely interesting -- given their mindset, there can never be enough appeasement to satisfy Muslims -- they will want more and more and more, until we are destroyed! Sobering, to say the least. So much for Bush and Blair and HRH Prince Charles. The only people they are fooling are themselves and their own ilk. The Prince is downright wacky even if he believes only a tiny fraction of the silly palaver he is spouting. He is either disingenuous or a complete fool, there are no other options. You decide which...

cybercrusader said...

In spite of all of his flowery rhetoric, this action shows the charlatan, Erdogan, for what he is: just another vicious, lying, two-faced Middle Eastern dictator. I only wish Benedict XVI would stay away from Turkey, the Muslims will only try to kill him while he is there. I pray to God that Benedict is spared as the free world needs him; he is one of the few honest voices we have. He certainly does not ***you know what -- fill in the appropriate word(s) yourself*** as Bush and Blair and Prince Charles do when they are inventing supposed contributions of Muslims to civilization. Funny, isn't it, that they NEVER give any examples; it's only 'politician-speak' hot gas, foul-smelling gas at that!

Mark said...

Eleanor:

There have already been threats against the Vatican.

Personally, I think the Pope would be wiser to stay home.

Erdogan comes over as being extremely arrogant to me. Have you heard him making demands on the EU? One would be forgiven for thinking that the EU had applied for membership of Turkey, not the other way around!

Keep the Turks out of Europe, that's what I say. The marriage of Turkey and Europe will end in tears. After all, it's only common sense.

I wish the Turks no ill, but they simply do not belong in Europe. And bringing them in will NOT avert a clash of civilizations, as many seem to believe. On the contrary, it will bring the clash right into the heart of Europe.

Mark said...

USIP:

We cannot trust Bush, Blair, or Charles on this. Bush and Blair have made a dog's dinner of Iraq. Those two want desperately to bring Turkey into the EU. They were wrong on Iraq; and they are wrong on Turkey in the EU, too! Their judgement simply cannot be trusted.

Mark said...

USIP:

Funny, isn't it, that they NEVER give any examples [of Muslims' contributions]; it's only 'politician-speak' hot gas, foul-smelling gas at that!

Yeah, glib talk as they say this side of the Pond. They all come out with banal talk of contributions; but nobody ever sites any real contributions, save, perhaps, for a few made some centuries and centuries ago.

Anyway, how does Bush know about such contributions? He doesn't read that much.