Turkey: Politicians ask the pope to defend islam
With Pope Francis’ visit to Turkey coming up on September 29 and 30, 2014, Turkish politicians have criticized the sovereign pontiff’s “silence” on the so-called “hateful acts against the Muslims in Europe.” According to the British Catholic newspaper The Tablet, on September 12, the President of the Presidency of Religious Affairs, Mehmet Gormez, denounced the papal visit, considering that Pope Francis has done “nothing to defend the Muslims against the violence and discrimination they undergo in the West.”
The Tablet also pointed out that Emrullah Isler, an important member of the AKP, the party in power, protested against this visit. The politician considers that the Muslim world is “presently facing one of the most difficult periods of its history”, and added that “the Muslims themselves can do nothing against this state of affairs.” For him, “all religious institutions”, beginning with the Vatican, “should pay attention to this problem.”
While Turkey counts 80 million Sunnite Muslims, the 37,000 Catholic faithful are not always officially recognized by the State.
(sources: apic/the tablet – DICI no.301, dated Sept. 26, 2014)
