APOSTOLIC VOYAGE TO TURKEY

Turkish police appeal for restraint in Pope protests

By Selcuk Gokoluk

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish police on Friday appealed for restraint at planned protests against
Pope Benedict's visit to the Muslim country next week, saying they could harm Turkey's image.

An Islamist party and some nationalist groups have vowed to stage street protests against the Pope, whose comments on Islam infuriated many Muslims worldwide in September.

"The eyes of the whole world will be on Turkey ... It is in the interests of Turkey that the Pope leaves here with a positive impression of our country," police spokesman Ismail Caliskan said.

"Reactions (to the visit) should not be taken to an extreme," he told a weekly news briefing.

On Wednesday, police detained 39 demonstrators who briefly occupied Istanbul's renowned Aya Sofya museum, a former church which Benedict is due to visit. The protesters, who had shouted anti-Pope slogans, were later released.

Caliskan confirmed increased security at the sites Benedict is scheduled to visit during his November 28-December 1 trip.

"The Pope will be as safe in Turkey as in the
Vatican," Egemen Bagis, a lawmaker from Turkey's ruling AK Party, which has Islamist roots, told Reuters in Istanbul this week.

MUSLIM FURY

Benedict angered Muslims in September by opening a speech in his native Germany by quoting a Byzantine emperor who argued that Islam was violent and irrational. He later expressed regret over the pain his remarks caused but stopped short of a full apology.

Before becoming Pope, Benedict annoyed Turks by speaking out against Turkey's bid to join the
European Union, saying it did not belong there because of its religion and culture.

Caliskan said some 750 extra policemen would be on duty in Istanbul, where the Pope is due to meet Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians.

Turkish nationalists often protest against Bartholomew, whom they see as a tool of ancient rival Greece and accuse of trying to set up a Vatican-style mini-state in Istanbul. The Patriarch denies the claims.