{UAH} Pope Francis arrives in Turkey

He arrived safely in Ankara on an Alitalia flight. He travelled with a team of 100 officials

including 65 journalists. Turkey, a country 97% Moslem and with only 50,000 Roman Catholics

was indeed set to welcome the Pope who preached solidarity of all religions against any fundamentalism.

The official welcome took place at the President's Palace ( a monumental building with 1000 rooms!)

At the airport Pope Francis was just greeted by a Minister, and then he was put in a simple car and driven in,

a procession of vehicles to the Presidential Palace, 28 km from the airport. Before reaching there he had, according

to Turkish protocol, to visit the Ataturk Mausoleum where lies the legendary Mustapha Kemal Ataturk who transformed

Turkey from an ancient society into a modern nation enjoying Western values in all aspects. The Pope placed a very nice

bouquet of specially designed flowers on the tomb of the great leader before he visited the adjoining museum where the

history of Turkey is traced. Hundreds of journalists from all over the globe were following the events. He signed the official

visitors' register and was driven to the President's Palace where he was very warmly received by the President and the entire

cabinet. He listened to the anthems.He inspected the guard of honour mounted by the army. Then withdrew with the President 

for private talks which lasted half an hour. Then the two leaders came out to deliver their official greetings. The Turkish President

qualified the Pope's visit as an important landmark for Moslems and expressed joy to see Pope Francis in their midst. 

The President condemned terrorist acts and singled out the problem Turkey met in welcoming the many refugees from Irak, Syria, etc.. 

He mentioned the shortage of means from the international community which he accused of its general indifference and silence. 

He pointed to the worry the Moslems had in regard with the international community and called on unity to fight all this.

The Pope expressed his happiness to visit Turkey, a beautiful country with a rich history both politically and from the religious point of view.

He called on the need for a serious dialogue to settle the many problems the region faces. He observed that each groupmust respect and

put in application the real universal rights and duties, and the international community had to respect its engagements. He appealed to the

world community to avoid the spirit of indifference and get committed for solid peace. He assured that with God's help correct solutions would

one day be found. He prayed for God's protection of the Trukish nation which he wished to see become a peace making nation.

The two leaders were very strongly applauded at the end of their address.

Later in the day the Pope visited a religious centre where various religious representatives had gathered to meet him. He encouraged them to

work together in order to enforce solidarity against any kind of religious fundamentalism.

Saturday ( 29/11/2014 ) Pope Francis will fly to Istanbul where for two days his visit will be taking to a typically religious aspect.

Dr G.H. Kkolokolo  ( Paris / France )

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