Thursday, November 02, 2006

Turkey denies “snubbing” Pope after announcing prime minister will not meet Benedict

Rome, Nov. 02, 2006 (CNA) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will no longer be available to meet with Pope Benedict XVI when the pontiff visits the Muslim country later this month. But, Turkish officials are denying that the cancelled meeting was not a intentional slight.

The Turkish Embassy to the Holy See announced yesterday that Erdogan would be attending a NATO summit in Estonia during that time.

Erdogan had been tentatively scheduled to meet with the Pope on Nov. 28, the first day of the Pontiff’s trip. He would have been the first Turkish prime minister to receive Pope Benedict XVI.

Ahmet Arslan, speaker for Prime Minster Ergodan, told ANSA today that the Turkish premier will be in Riga, Latvia, for a NATO summit until the night of November 29 and the next day he must chair a meeting in Ankara of the Supreme Defence Council, which had been scheduled since the start of the year and would last all day, he added. "Any intention of a diplomatic snub of the pope for his statements on Islam is totally out of the question," Arslan said.
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