Paul VI: the first papal visit to Turkey

By Burcu Arik

ISTANBUL

The year is 1967. The last time a pope set foot in Istanbul, the city was called Constantinople. 

On this 28th of July, Paul VI becomes the first pontiff to visit Turkey.

Travelling on a four-engine Pan American jetliner, he arrives in Turkey only three days after a disastrous earthquake in Anatolia claimed more than 100 lives.

Stepping from out of the plane, he halts and turns to Turkish President Cevdet Sunay and Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel and says:

"Arriving in this country immediately after a catastrophe that has plunged the nation in mourning, we turn our thoughts first to those who have suffered and ask all to join with us in a moment of observance."

In 1967, Paul VI has been pope for five years. He has witnessed the assassination of U.S. President John F Kennedy in 1963, the 1962 Cuban missile crisis -- a culminating point of the Cold War -- and the ongoing Vietnam War.

Only three years earlier, the pontiff's meeting with the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Athenagoras, in 1964 in Jerusalem, had marked the end of a rift between the Eastern and Western churches that dated back to 1054.

In 1967, the Italian pope met once again with Patriarch Athenagoras in Istanbul. He would host the Orthodox leader in Rome later the same year.

“The Pope arrived to Turkey on a two-day mission not only to discuss peace in the Middle East, but also to end 900 years of division between Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians," the Associated Press writes in a story published during the visit. 

The Pope also went to Hagia Sophia, which in its 1400-year history had been successively a church, a mosque and finally -- and still today -- a museum.

"Oh God, help us in the great task we have undertaken and which has been one of the determining reasons for this journey, the recomposition of Christian unity," Pope Paul VI is quoted as saying by the media, after visiting various religious sites across Turkey,

However, in some political quarters in Turkey, the papal visit was perceived as a type of Catholic propaganda supporting the Orthodox community living in the country. 

Indeed, the British weekly Observer defined the visit as "help for the Patriarchate in Istanbul."

The paper claimed that the Turkish government had turned its back on the Orthodox Christianity.

"Ankara is believed to have a policy to expel the Patriarchy from the country. Condescending to visit the Pope in Istanbul, making a solidarity gesture, Patriarch Athenagoras is strengthening his hand," the weekly claimed.

In 1967, the country is ruled by the Justice Party (Adalet Partisi), a right-wing party.

After taking over the country following Turkey’s first military coup in 1960, the party was known as strongly supporting Turkey's membership into NATO, and having close ties with Washington.

Trying to downplay the 1960 military coup, officials in power found an ideal scapegoat in Greece, going as far as to question the place of Greek Orthodox church on Turkish soil.

A few months prior, a group of colonels had established a military dictatorship in Greece, which would last seven years.

Turkish daily Tercuman accused the Pope of having the diplomatic aim of supporting Greece against Turkey.

 "He does not just aim to achieve the happy ending between the Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians" the paper said.

 "The main diplomatic purpose for the visit is reuniting the two churches against Turkey and ending the hundred years of dispute between the Eastern and Western Christians to strengthen the Christian existence in the country," it claimed.

But Paul VI was well known for his desire "to improve the dialogue with all nations by establishing diplomatic relations" as he stated.

He earned the nickname "the Pilgrim Pope" for his many travels.

Pope Paul VI was the first to travel the world’s six continents and would inspire a later pontiff: John Paul II who visit Turkey in 1979.

Part 2: John Paul II visits Turkey

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