Erdoğan Says Desperate Masses Exploited By Radical Groups

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking after talks with Pope Francis in Ankara, complained that the international community ignores “state terrorism” in Syria and lamented that grievances of desperate masses in the Muslim world have been exploited by extremist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“Masses that have been pushed into poverty and subjected to injustices become vulnerable to exploitation by groups such as Deash and Boko Haram,” Erdoğan said at the joint address with the pope at the newly-built presidential palace, Ak Saray. He was referring to ISIL using a transliteration of an Arabic, derogatory acronym of the group, which is more commonly used as Daesh or Daish.

The president also reiterated his exasperation that the international community turns a blind eye to a “state terrorism” conducted by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “Deash terrorism is well known in the world but there is also a man who conducts state terrorism in Syria. And they [the West] use an argument which has no scientific basis, saying ‘who will come if Assad leaves?'”

Domestic controversies

Pope Francis' visit comes at a time when the Middle East is going through a troubled period, especially under the threat of radical groups such as ISIL.
The visit has also brought Erdoğan's stance towards interfaith dialogue and religious tolerance under the spotlight as he has slammed Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen in the past for promoting inter-religious dialogue and meeting with a late pope. Erdoğan accuses Gülen's faith-based Hizmet movement of orchestrating a coup against his rule in collaboration with foreign actors since a massive corruption scandal targeting people in his inner circle erupted with a wave of detentions on Dec. 17, 2013.
Claims of hypocrisy increased after an official letter of invitation he sent to Pope Francis, filled with praise of the pope and calls for interfaith dialogue, became public.
Addressing the pope as a “vessel of holiness,” Erdoğan said in the letter that “dialogue and mutual understanding among members of different religions is necessary now more than ever.”
“Since the day you assumed the post of spiritual leader of the Catholic world, I have been following with appreciation the valuable efforts you have made for world peace, brotherhood and peace among peoples,” read Erdoğan's letter.
In a campaign rally for local elections in early March of this year, however, Erdoğan said: “You know, he [Gülen] … was arm-in-arm in photos with the pope," referring to a meeting Gülen had with Pope John Paul II in 1998.
On Thursday, he called for unity among Muslim countries at a gathering of representatives from Muslim countries in İstanbul and declared that foreigners "do not like us, just the oil money."
Pope Francis, known for his praise of humility and simplicity, has become the first foreign guest to be hosted at Erdoğan's new 1,000-room presidential palace, the Ak Saray, which was built on a once-protected farmland and forest that dwarfs the White House and other European government palaces.
The Vatican has dismissed a request by the Turkish Chamber of Architects to boycott the meeting in order not to be seen as legitimizing the lavishness and disregard for court orders against the construction of the building, saying Pope Francis would be received wherever the government chooses to receive him.

Before meeting Erdoğan, Pope Francis began his three-day visit to Turkey by visiting the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic.
On Saturday, the pope will travel to İstanbul, where he is expected to visit the historic Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) Museum. The Hagia Sophia was built as an Orthodox patriarchal basilica in A.D. 360. It served as the Greek Orthodox cathedral of Constantinople until the city's conquest by the Ottomans in 1453, when the building was turned into a mosque. It remained so until 1931, when it was closed to the public for four years. It was reopened by the republican authorities in 1935 as a museum, after Turkey became a secular state.
The pope will also visit the Sultanahmet Mosque in İstanbul and is later expected to celebrate mass in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit (St. Esprit Cathedral) in Harbiye. After that, the pope will visit the Patriarchal Church of St. George in İstanbul, the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, and meet with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I for a private meeting.
On Sunday, the last day of his visit, the pope will celebrate mass in the Church of St. George, which Bartholomew I will also attend. Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew are expected to sign a joint declaration, according to the Catholic News Service, but the nature of the joint declaration has not yet been revealed.

SHOT LIST

Friday, November 28, 2014 SOURCE CİHAN

-Var of Erdoğan and Pope Francis
-Var of Erdoğan's speech

DURATION: 10:45