Turkish president will 'set Pope straight during visit'

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today called Pope Benedict XVI’s expression of regret over his remarks on Islam “manoeuvres” and said the Turkish president would set him straight during his visit next month.

Benedict has expressed regret for offending Muslims by his remarks and has met with Muslim ambassadors to try and end the anger in the Islamic world.

Erdogan, responding to a question at a economics seminar, said the pope had made some manoeuvres” since the remarks on September 12.

“He said later ’I respect Islam’... he invited the ambassadors.. We accept these as a step back and say, he probably made a slip of the tongue. Let’s accept it as such,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan said the pope would be a guest of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer who would tell him “what needs to be said.”