President Sezer to the Pope: Come as our guests in 2006

Turkish President Ahmet Sezer has issued an official invitation from Ankara to Pope Benedict XVI to visit Turkey over the coming year. Sezer's invitation followed a diplomatic struggle in the Foreign Ministry over what to do in the wake of an earlier invitation issued to the Pope by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomeus in Istanbul. Not wanting to have such an important relgious leader visit Turkey as the official guest of the Fener Patriarchate, the Ministry decided that the best way to avert such a situation was to invite Benedict XVI to come in 2006 as the guest of Ankara.

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See also:

• President Sezer Invites Pope as 'Head of State' (Zaman)
• TURKEY: BACKGROUND TO DEFERRAL OF POPE'S VISIT (Adnkronos International)
• Pope's visit to Turkey ripe for controversy (The Anatolian Times)
• The Pope, the Patriarch and Turkey (American Chronicle)
• Religions, civilizations to meet in Turkish city of Hatay in late September (Hürriyetim)
• Bartolomeos hopes for timely start of Turkey-EU negotiations (Turkish Daily News)