Posted on 11/22/2006 9:18:06 AM PST by Bokababe
Police on Wednesday detained about 40 members of a Turkish nationalist party who earlier had occupied one of Istanbul's most famous buildings, the Haghia Sophia, to protest the visit next week of Pope Benedict XVI.
The protesters belong to the Great Unity Party, a far right-wing group that has previously staged demonstrations against the planned Nov. 28-Dec. 1 visit.
They entered the 6th century former Byzantine church and mosque, shouting "Allahu akbar!" — "God is great!" — and then knelt to perform Islamic prayers.
They also shouted a warning to Benedict: "Pope, don't make a mistake, don't wear out our patience."
A group leader read a statement saying Benedict had offended Muslims with his comments linking violence and Islam, but the reading was interrupted by police.
When the protesters refused to surrender, a policeman used pepper spray on them. Police later rounded up the protesters against a wall outside a door of the Haghia Sophia.
They were loaded into police buses and took them to a nearby police station for questioning, police said.
Benedict is scheduled to tour the Haghia Sophia, which is a source of religious sensitivity in Turkey. It was one of the world's greatest churches for more than 1,000 years, but was converted into a mosque after the conquest of Istanbul by Ottoman Turks in 1453. Today, the Haghia Sophia is a museum, and public religious ceremonies inside are forbidden.
There has been intense debate in Turkey about whether the pope will pray inside the Haghia Sophia, with some saying that doing so would be a political act and an attempt to reclaim its status as a great Christian church.
Benedict's first trip to a Muslim nation comes at a time of heightened tensions between the West and Islam.
The Muslim world erupted in protest after Benedict 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."
Benedict has offered his regrets that his speech caused offense and has stressed that the quotes did not reflect his personal opinion. He has also expressed esteem for Islam
Please God keep the Holy Father safe when he goes to Turkey next week. Amen
We are the Religion of Peace, and we will kill you to prove it....
You know, I wasn't raised to be a bigot or a warmonger, but the more I see of this kind of crap, the more I am sure that when we develope an alternative fuel source, we should throw every Muslim out of the US and Europe, and recalim all of Turkey & Cyprus as a DMZ. Turkey was a Christian country once, and it should be again!
Let me rephrase that: "Turkey" was Christian territory once, as it actually used to be part of Greece, and it should be again!
Actually Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt etc. used to be Christian aswell.
Islam did not exist in 6th century.
And the rest of Northern Africa (where Saint Augustine was a bishop) and Turkey/Asia Minor where the key Ecumenical Councils took place.
neither was I Boka- but lately- I'm REALLY thinking these Muslim extremist scum are worthless pieces of crap! http://sacredscoop.com
No, it's the reason I posted it. It really ticked me off!
[: "Pope, don't make a mistake, don't wear out our patience." ]
This aint exactly a 'prayer meeting' it's a blatant veiled threat!
Ok, so let's reclaim it all!
I am not even Roman Catholic, but the sheer arrogance of that statement by a bunch of low-life losers just blows me away!
That group of protestors appears to be doubly mistaken, perhaps triply.
I'm not catholic either & YES- it is an arrogant statement and a blatant threat that people of their ilk have proven in the past that they're more than willing to carry out by killing innocent nuns and burning churches and exploding bombs- I beleive the catholic church has strayed fro mtheir salvation through Christ alone message over the years, BUT I still find the actions of the Muslims toward them HIGHLY offensive and unnaceptable!
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Actually Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt etc. used to be Christian aswell.
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And Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, and Algeria. Gee, those darn crusades were totally unjustified, weren't they? I mean, they only destroyed the entire Middle East and North Africa before those evil crusaders started meddling.
I think that Srdija (Serge) Trifkovic makes that point about "the Crusades not being unjustified" extremely well both in his books ("Sword of the Prophet" and "Defeating Jihad") and in the film "Islam: What the World Needs to Know".
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