September 19, 2006
Talking Turkey with the Pope
It looks like the Catholic Church’s efforts to douse the latest bout of Islamic outrage, caused by Pope Benedict’s speech, have not been entirely successful. The Pope has already made two attempts at an apology, and may feel that a third mea culpa is beyond the call of duty - whatever happened to papal infallibility? The attempts to keep fanning the flames of Islamic outrage seem to be most active in Iran. There were some fairly intemperate comments coming out of Turkey, at the beginning of this crisis - which is significant since the Pope is due to visit there in November. But the Turkish religious authorities now seem to want to play the whole thing down. One of the things the Turks hold against the Pope is that he is believed to regard the European Union as a “Christian club”, which should keep Turkey out. My FT column this week - subscribers only, I’m afraid - is about Turkey’s efforts to join the EU, which seem to be in quite serious difficulties. A public row with the Pope, or the cancellation of the pontiff’s visit, is unlikely to help Turkey’s chances of joining the EU. The Pope is said to be quite popular in EU member states such as Poland, Italy, Ireland and Spain.
