TURKEY: Turkish police prepare for Pope visit and have received death threats; Pope John Paul II attempted assassin Ali Agca wants one-day freedom to discuss with Pope Benedict XVI

Some eight thousand police will be responsible for security when Pope Benedict XVI visits Turkey, Turkey's deputy police chief said on Monday (November 27). Speaking exclusively to Reuters, the deputy chief of the Turkish police, Ismail Caliskan said that his force had been receiving constant threats ahead of the visit. "We are receiving constant threats via e-mail, fax and by phones. We are investigating each threat in great detail. So far, none of them were found to be serious," Caliskan said. Across the capital, preparations were being made for the Pontiff's visit. At Ankara airport, Vatican flags were being hung up and security was tight in front of the Vatican embassy. Pope Benedict is expected to arrive in the Turkish capital, on Tuesday (November 28). The lead-up to Benedict's first visit to a Muslim country has been peppered with controversy. Turkish government leaders have been accused of reluctance to meet him, street protests have erupted against the visit and a gun was fired outside the Italian consulate in Istanbul. The visit by the leader of 1.1 billion Roman Catholics was originally intended to be a pre-eminently Christian event centred around a meeting with the Istanbul-based head of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians. But it has taken on much vaster political ramifications in Western-Islamic relations, East-West ties, Catholic-Muslim relations and Turkey's own aspirations to be part of Europe. The 79-year-old Pope will have to attempt to repair damage on several fronts as he visits the predominantly Muslim country that is officially secular. The attitude to the Pope in Turkey ranges from total secular indifference to passionate religious or political anger. Benedict infuriated Muslims worldwide in September with a lecture that appeared to portray Islam as an irrational religions tainted by violence. He later expressed regret over the pain his remarks caused but stopped short of a full apology. Meanwhile in Istanbul, the man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981 has asked the Turkish government to release him for a day to discuss theological issues with Pope Benedict XVI, his lawyer said on Monday. Ali Agca's lawyer read a statement on his behalf at a news conference in Istanbul. "I want to meet Ratzinger either at St Sophia or at some other place he may feel is suitable. I want to discuss with him religious and mystic issues. I can`t do so because I am in prison. I asked the Turkish government to release me for one day so that I can discuss theological issues with Ratzinger," lawyer Mustafa Demirbag read. Agca is serving a sentence for the killing of a newspaper editor in the 1970s and also for robbery and is scheduled to be released from prison in January 2010. The former right-wing gangster served 19 years in an Italian prison for the assassination attempt before being pardoned at the Pope's behest in 2000 and extradited to Turkey. He was briefly freed from jail in January but a high court overturned the decision to release him. His motives for shooting Pope John Paul in Rome's St Peter's Square remain a mystery. Some believe he was a hitman for Soviet-era East European security services alarmed by the Polish-born pontiff's fierce opposition to communism.

ITN Source | November 29, 2006

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