The pope’s interfaith dialogue with Erdoğan

Pope Francis’ visit to Turkey is not only historic, but also timely, as global terrorism is on the rise with terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) every day killing hundreds of innocent people in the name of Islam. These terrorist threats posed by such extreme groups cause xenophobia and Islamophobia in the western world, creating more dangerous fault lines for global peace and security.

Messages delivered by Pope Francis and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were very important to this end, as both leaders underlined the need of more, and constructive, interreligious dialogue in order to avoid potential clashes of civilizations.

In this frame, Erdoğan’s remarks were attention-grabbing as he said “We sense and feel the approaching danger, calling on humanity to take precautions.” Although Erdoğan denounced all forms of terrorism and openly criticized organizations like ISIL or al-Qaeda, he indirectly blamed the western world for the birth of such terrorist organizations.

Expressing his belief that the pontiff’s visit will find its reflection on the Muslim world, Erdoğan called the entire world to give an ear to Turkey’s advice and recommendations to start a new process for the alliance of civilizations. These are all right and timely messages and worth to be taken into attention. However, just a day before the pope’s visit, Erdoğan was portraying a completely different picture.

During his address to the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) in Istanbul on Nov. 27, Erdoğan said “foreigners” are unable to solve the problems of the Middle East because Western states “don’t...