For the complete report in The Peninsula On-line click on this link
Announcing details of the Pope’s visit, the Vatican said on Saturday that the first stop on his four-day tour, on November 28, would be at the tomb of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern, secular Turkey, after which he would meet Turkish dignitaries. Among these will be Ali Bardakoglu, Turkey’s religious affairs chief, who said the Pope’s September 12 speech was “extremely regrettable and worrying ... both for the Christian world and for the common peace of humanity”.
The Pope said later he had been trying to “explain that religion and violence do not go together but religion and reason do.” A week ago, thousands of nationalist Turks demonstrated there, vowing to defend Turkey's secular government against radical Islamic influences while urging their political leaders not to make too many concessions to gain EU membership.
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