ROME: Turkey has accepted Pope Benedict XVI s efforts to make amends for his recent remarks on Islam and violence, a top Turkish official said Thursday in Rome. We thought the words were unfortunate, but, on the other hand, we [have accepted] the pope s corrective attempts, said Ali Babacan, Turkey s economy minister and chief EU negotiator. Benedict is planning to visit Turkey, in what would be his first papal pilgrimage to a predominantly Muslim country, in late November. Babacan praised a meeting this week between the pope and Muslim representatives, organized by the Vatican at the pope s summer residence and attended by Turkey s ambassador to the Holy See. The situation is right now much more comfortable, Babacan said after a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D Alema. On Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Benedict s expressions of regret maneuvers, and said the Turkish president would set him straight on Islam when the pontiff visited Turkey in November. Benedict has expressed deep regrets for offending Muslims by his remarks, quoting a Medieval-era Byzantine emperor during a Sept. 12 speech in Germany. Insisting that the remarks did not reflect his personal view, Benedict said he has esteem for Islam and called for dialogue between Christians and Muslims.
