The Pope Is Flying To Turkey

[Dave]

Pope flies into a Turkish cauldron

Matthew Campbell, Istanbul

 

WITH his thick black moustache he looks a bit like Borat, the Kazakh journalist in the hit Hollywood film, but Kemal Kerincsiz, a lawyer, is far from comical when he inveighs against enemies of the Turkish state.

 

The latest target of his displeasure is Pope Benedict XVI. Kerincsiz has led an energetic campaign to halt the visit of the 79-year-old pontiff, arriving on Tuesday, on the grounds that it is part of a “foreign plot” against Turkey. Not only had the Pope insulted Islam in a speech he made in September, Kerincsiz said, but he was planning a “provocative” meeting in Istanbul with the head of Orthodox Christianity. “We do not want him here. He should not come.”

 

Behind him on his office wall was a poster of the Pope as a fanged serpent which Kerincsiz has been handing out to supporters. He has also been bombarding government offices with “Stop the Pope” e-mails and faxes. Today he will attend a big demonstration against the Pope in Istanbul.

 

The Pope could hardly have picked a trickier moment for his visit, just as debate is reaching a bitter climax over whether to let Turkey and its 70m, predominantly Muslim, citizens into the European Union.

 

America and Britain are strongly in favour of keeping Turkey firmly in the western fold but Kerincsiz and his Lawyers’ Union are part of a nationalist movement trying to pull it in the other direction. Recent events, from the Pope’s comments about Islam to French efforts to outlaw denial of the Turkish massacre of Armenians at the end of the first world war, have worked in their favour.

 

The ultimate goal is to revive the Ottoman empire but, for the time being, they must content themselves with a campaign to defend Turkey against enemies.

 

It was Kerincsiz who brought a lawsuit against Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel prize-winning author, earlier this year for accusing Turkey of genocide against Armenians. “The Armenians were deported, not killed,” he insisted.

 

All of this risks jeopardising the country’s drive to modernity and it is little surprise that talks with the EU on Turkish membership have recently turned sour.

 

An increasingly impatient Brussels has repeatedly called on Turkey to repeal article 301, the law being used by Kerincsiz to attack freedom of speech. On Thursday, in a development unlikely to cheer the Pope, two Christians went on trial under article 301 for insulting “Turkishness” and inciting religious hatred while trying to convert Turks to Christianity.

 

Brussels has given Turkey until December 6 to let Cypriot ships into its ports or risk seeing its application for EU membership rejected. This has put Turks in an angry sulk over the “crusader mentality” of the Europeans, hardly an encouraging context for a papal visit.

 

The Pope once warned that letting Turkey into the EU would be “a grave error against the tide of history” and he has become, for many, a symbol of western hostility towards Turkey.

 

For Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the moderate prime minister, it is an extremely unwelcome predicament. An election is looming next year and in order not to alienate voters he has pleaded a prior engagement — a Nato summit in Riga — to avoid going anywhere near the Pope.

 

Muslim protests against the pontiff will not go down well in Brussels, reviving perennial speculation about the threat to the strong, secular democracy established by Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey.

 

A draconian security plan involving 12,000 policemen is being implemented in Istanbul to prevent any violent backlash against the Pope. Snipers will be posted on rooftops. Sewers will be searched for bombs.

 

The authorities are right to be nervous. There has been a string of attacks against Christian clergymen since the Pope’s speech in September when he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine leader as saying that the Muslims had spread their faith “by the sword” and brought things “only evil and inhuman”

 

Earlier this month, a man fired a pistol in the air outside the Italian consulate in Istanbul, shouting slogans against the Pope, whose predecessor, John Paul II, was shot in the stomach by a Turkish assailant in Rome.

 

On Wednesday, tourists were removed by police from the 6th-century Byzantine Hagia Sophia Church, a famous Istanbul landmark, when about 100 nationalists staged an anti-Pope protest. The church was converted into a mosque when the Ottomans conquered the city — Constantinople, as it was known — in 1453, but is now a museum and one of the venues on the papal itinerary.

 

For today’s demonstration, an Islamist party is planning to ferry around 75,000 people on buses into Istanbul. Kerincsiz said his group was planning to stage other protests during the visit but did not support violence.

 

Not yet at least. Instead of membership of the EU, he advocates restoration of a Turkic empire stretching from former Ottoman provinces in the Balkans right up into Central Asia. Achieving this would presumably involve a certain amount of swordplay.

 

It matters little to him that Atatürk, his hero whose portrait hangs in his office, was in favour of westernisation, urging his citizens to waltz and wear western clothes and introducing a Roman alphabet and Swiss penal code. “Being in the EU, we would not be able to restore our empire,” said Kerincsiz.

 

He is helped by growing frustration over sacrifices being demanded by Brussels. A poll last week showed that 60% were in favour of halting talks with the EU. “The attitude seems to be that if you don’t want us, we certainly don’t want you,” said a western diplomat. “Turkey feels terribly unloved.”

 

Turks are notoriously sensitive about how they are seen in the West. It explains what happened in Washington last week when one of Turkey’s top army generals stormed out of the White House in protest after guards tried to frisk him before a meeting.

 

Try bargaining in Istanbul and see what happens. “Do you think that you can pay what you like just because we are in Turkey and not in London?” complained an irate shop owner when a tourist offered less than what seemed an exorbitant amount for a ceramic pot.

 

Because of the prospect, albeit distant, of becoming part of the EU, the economy is booming — it attracts more foreign investment than any other Mediterranean country — and by reducing the political role of the army and curbing abuses of human rights Turkey has taken big steps towards Europe. Yet in Turkish eyes, Europe keeps asking for more: “We will never satisfy them,” said Cengiz Bilgin, a teacher. “It is clear they don’t really want us in their club.”

 

The argument appears to be gaining ground and the growth of Kerincsiz’s group to 800 members in Istanbul alone over the past few years suggests that he may have a future.

 

Call for and to anti-Christian laws

 

The Pope will stand up for Christian minority rights on his visit to Turkey this week, writes Christopher Morgan. According to advisers, he will call for an end to Turkey’s anti-Christian discrimination laws that make it difficult for churches to own property and run seminaries. Cardinal Walter Kasper said: “The treatment of Christian minorities will have to be sorted out if Turkey is to join the European Union.” Under EU pressure, Turkey passed a law this month strengthening Christian churches’ property rights, but Orthodox leaders say this is not enough. Call for end to anti-Christian laws

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2471894,00.html

 

This Kerincsiz is the earthly manifestation of the Turkish genocidal mentality. Note that he was also responsible for all the other trials, including Pamuk's case.