Star Metro - Pope urges Turkey to embrace mediator role on first overseas trip

"Mr President, may Turkey be a source of stability and rapprochement between peoples, in service of a just and lasting peace," he said in the capital as he began the first overseas trip of his papacy.

"Today more than ever, we need people who will promote dialogue and practice it, with firm will and patient resolve," said Leo, in a nod to Turkey's growing role in conflict-resolution efforts in Gaza, Ukraine and beyond.

Elected in May as the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, the 70-year-old pontiff landed in Ankara shortly after midday (0930 GMT) on a trip that will also take him to Istanbul and the ancient city of Iznik before heading to Lebanon on Sunday.

"I have very much been looking forward to this trip because of what it means for all Christians, but it is also a great message to the whole world," he told reporters on board his plane, describing it as a "historic moment".

A tight cordon of security meant the papal convoy swept through nearly empty streets en route to the vast mausoleum dedicated to the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, where Leo paid his respects.

He then headed to the sprawling presidential complex for talks with Erdogan, who is seen as a key player for peace efforts in a region fraught with conflict.

Turkey had a "special role" as a bridge between East and West, Asia and Europe, but was also a "crossroads of sensibilities" that was richer for its "internal diversity", he said, standing in front of a giant globe in the middle of an imposing library at the presidential complex.

"You have an important place in both the present and future of the Mediterranean, and of the whole world, above all by valuing your internal diversity," he said.

"Uniformity would be an impoverishment. Indeed, a society is alive if it has a plurality," he said in a country that counts some 100,000 Christians among a population of 86 million, mostly Sunni Muslims.

"Christians desire to contribute positively to the unity of your country. They are -- and they feel -- part of Turkish identity."

- 'A source of enrichment' -

Ahead of Leo's speech, which was in his native English, a choir dressed in embroidered robes accompanied by traditional Turkish instruments sang a host of spiritual songs in English and Turkish.

"We do not consider cultural, religious, and ethnic differences a source of division, but rather a source of enrichment," he said.

He also hailed Leo's stance on "the Palestinian cause", and called for "justice" for the Palestinian people.

"As the human family, our greatest debt to the Palestinian people is justice. The way to repay this debt is to implement the two-state solution as soon as possible."

Friday's calendar will take on a more religious aspect with the celebration in Iznik of the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, a gathering of bishops in the year 325 that resulted in a statement of faith still central to Christianity.

Invited by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Leo will join an ecumenical prayer service on the shores of Lake Iznik.

The pope's trip comes as the Orthodox world appears more fragmented than ever, with the war in Ukraine accelerating the split between the Moscow and Constantinople patriarchates.

The pope is the fifth pontiff to visit Turkey, after Paul VI in 1967, John Paul II in 1979, Benedict XVI in 2006 and Francis in 2014.

On Sunday, Leo will head to religiously diverse Lebanon, a nation that has been crushed by a devastating economic and political crisis since 2019 and which has been the target of repeated bombings by Israel in recent days, despite a ceasefire.

burs-hmw/fo/phz

T.Murray--SMC