Dear Blog Readers-
I am sitting in the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul waiting for Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew I to arrive. A couple of blog readers have written to me asking “Where are you?”. They say they don’t see me in any of the shots on TV of the Pope in Turkey and I am not posting. If any of you use twitter you can see my tweets at @mozzarellamamma which will give you a pretty good idea of where I am and what I am doing when I travel with the Pope.
The reason you don’t see me in the shots with the Pope is that many times I am not that close to him and when I am, I am definitely staying out of the shot, and the reason that I am not blogging is that there is no time.
On papal trips we usually start about 5am picking up all the Pope’s speeches for the day and then spend the rest of the day running around (and being bused around) from one event to another always trying to stay ahead of the Pope. I drag my computer bag with me everywhere so if there is a slow moment, I can pull it out, ingest some video, edit and feed (or in this case whip off a quick blog post while I wait). Here in Turkey I am able to feed from more or less anywhere because I have a Turkish wifi key that a technician in AP’s Istanbul bureau sent me in Rome ahead of time.
On this trip AP has a complete team on board. There is Nicole Winfield for AP wire, Gregorio Borgia for AP Photo and Gianfranco Stara and me for AP telelvision. I am particularly indebted to Gregorio who supplies me with plenty of his fantastic leftover photos once he has filed for AP.
Enroute Ankara, the Pope came to the back of the plane to say hello to us and thank us for our work. He also mentioned that he is grateful for what Turkey is doing, taking in so many refugees from war zones in surrounding countries – Syria and Iraq. Turkey is now hosting 1.6 million refugees.
When we got off the plane in Ankara, there was no public crowd to greet the Pope, but plenty of armed men. The Pope was whisked off immediately to pay his respects at Ataturk’s Mausoleum and then on to the Palace of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his first meetings and speech.
Just a quick work on President Erdogan’s palace—it is a gigantic, luxurious, sumptuous, massive building recently completed on the outskirts of Ankara, for a mere 620 million dollars. The Turks have been up in arms about it—with both environmentalists and architects registering complaints– so it was a bit awkward for the Pope – a man who preaches humility—to be the first foreign dignitary to visit that anything-but-humble abode. Later the Pope’s spokesman told the press that Francis felt a bit out if his element.
Outside the huge – 1000 room—presidential palace, the Pope was escorted by an elegant horse regiment, and as he alighted from his car there was a 21 cannon salute. The Pope and the President walked down a long baby blue carpet, past a line of soldiers in baby blue jackets. I was told later that Turquoise is considered the Turkish color, coming from the gem, used widely in tiles and exported during the period of the Ottoman Empire and that is why the carpet was not red. (Although it did look more like a baby blue that turquoise to me).
Once the leaders were inside, we were escorted into the palace. Politicians, government officials and foreign dignitaries were gathered for the speech from the President and the Pope and while they waited for the event to begin, they were having a little party. Waiters in white jackets passed out Turkish sweets with honey and pistachios, juices and water with thin slices of lemon and Turkish tea, all served on silver trays. I must admit that I snagged some delicious small pastries off a tray as I tromped through with my computer bag. (The waiter did not seem to mind, but I was scolded by a Vatican official who told me to put it back. Too late, it was already in my mouth.)
When it came time for the speeches, I was a bit surprised. The Pope looked put-out by the whole thing as he sat and listened first to the President’s speech. Erdogan launched in saying that the two of them were seeing eye-to-eye on everything. (He was speaking in Turkish, and I had the headphones with simultaneous translation)
He said “there was no issue on which we had a difference of opinion”, “ in terms of terrorism we have the same perspective” and “we have the same perspective regarding the dominance of money.” That comment caught us all up a bit short. Pope Francis is the man who decided not to use the elegant Apostolic Apartment overlooking St. Peter’s Square, choosing instead a small room in the Santa Marta residence inside the Vatican walls. Not exactly a guy who is into luxury.
Erdogan went onto talk about Islamophobia. He said it is a “serious trend” and that “prejudice and intolerance are gradually increasing”.
Following his meeting with the President, the Pope went to the Diyanet, the Ministry of Religious Affairs. There in a speech he condemned the “barbaric violence” against religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, adding “any violence which seeks religious justification warrants the strongest condemnation.”
This morning we were up at dawn and on a plane for Istanbul. I am a huge fan of the city of Istanbul. (see blog post: Istanbul Diary) As soon as we stepped off the plane we were hustled off to the Sultan Ahmet Mosque otherwise known as the Blue Mosque.
Outside the doorway we had to pull off our shoes and the women in the group had to wrap scarves around our heads. We then stepped into the 17th century mosque, our stocking feet sinking into the plush rugs. I had a hard time un-gluing my eyes from the fabulously tiled ceiling.
Shortly thereafter the Pope arrived and the Grand Mufti of Istanbul escorted him around. The two men briefly stopped in silent prayer, the Mufti held his hands open and the Pope held his together.
While they were praying we were hustled out the back to move on to the next stop the Haghia Sofia originally built under Emperor Constantine in 360 AD, and rebuilt by Emperior Justinian in 532 and then turned into a Mosque in 1453 under Sultan Mohammed II following the Muslim conquest of the city. Finally the first Turkish President Ataturk transformed it into a museum.
As I stepped outside the Blue Mosque I saw a big Turkish security guard standing over two pairs of big black shoes. I asked him “Are these the Pope’s and the Imam’s shoes?” I wanted to take a picture. But he shooed me off before I could.
My poor cameraman Gianfranco was one of the last in the group to leave the mosque and had to run back to the bus in his socks carrying his shoes.
At Haghia Sophia I was not in a great position to see the Pope, but I did get a nice photo of a pretty cat who came out to check what all the fuss was about and pay his respects to the Pope. I tweeted his photos and I got a stunning 20 re-tweets, someone even named him Cataturk.
And one more of my favorite cat.
I CAN’T WRITE ANYMORE BECAUSE THE POPE AND THE PATRIARCH WILL BE HERE SOON, BUT THERE IS MUCH MORE TO SAY AND PHOTOS TO POST, SO THERE WILL BE A PART II TURKEY POST SOON.
THANK YOU!
As soon as I found out — via your tweeter– that you would be accompanying the Pope on his journey — I was so hoping there would be at least one blog post dedicated to the Pope’s visit to Turkey, especially with lots of behind-the-scenes stories.
So, keep up the good work, and I look forward to the next one!
Thank you Beth– there is just so much I want to write and so little time to do it.
Hi Trisha,
As always, Murat and I are big fans of your posts on Turkey – was interesting to hear about the country from outside eyes.
We were especially interested to hear about the palace which we have read so much about…we think it’s quite something that the president spoke so much about seeing eye to eye on finances with the pope from within that gargantuan expensive complex.
Did you hear that President Erdoğan wants to convert the Aya Sofya back to a mosque?
Can’t wait to read part 2!
Love, Elspeth & Murat
P.S. If you have time to get to the Asian side of his stumble, please check out the tiny restaurant called Çiya which has a little-known set of Anatolian specialties. Their desserts of candy and squash, candy black walnut and candied eggplant are delectable and unexpected. We only just discovered this restaurant last fall. It’s worth the trek across the Bosphorous.
Thanks Els — Great to hear from you. Yes, I did hear that Erdogan wants to convert the Aya Sofya back into a mosque. Not a good idea. I am back in Rome now — just got off the plane an hour ago. I didn’t have any time to come up for air, so did not get out to any decent restaurants, but I am going back to Istanbul next week so I will try the restaurant you suggest them. I was thinking about both you and Murat a lot when I was in Turkey — what an amazing place!
Oops- “his stumble” is Siri’s version of “Istanbul!”
. . so many dead and so many refugees in no small part due to the actions of the megolomaniac who occupies his new palace. Loved you photos and look forward next episode.
I know you have been on many trips with various Popes, but I imagine the thrill never wears off. I enjoy reading about it all and viewing your photographs. It be an absolute crush with all the reporters. I bet there are some sharp elbows in the press corps.
There has been lots made of The White Palace here in the news. Words like lavish and extravagant pepper the articles, with the coverage being pretty negative. It certainly is huge. I can imagine that the Pope was not digging being there.
There certainly are gorgeous sights to see in Turkey. I hope you get a bit of time off to relax and poke around. I look forward to Part II, and thanks for including the shots of the cat. What a beauty.
Interesting and fun to read. I think I have only found one boring story so far in National Catholic Reporter on line. Thanks for the more interesting coverage.
A presto
Thanks Joan– I am glad you liked the post. I am surprised that NCR was boring — they are usually very good and this trip was very exciting. (Also you can say a lot of things about me good and bad, but I am never boring. I am so pleased you had fun reading what I wrote)
Love your posts…they are so interesting with lots of details that usually do not make it into the “official” news.
Thank you Lega — I always wonder if my blog readers might want more of the official news — and I am drowning in speeches and official documents which I need to use for my work, but for my blog I have more fun writing about the other stuff.
Oh, how exciting! My dream job–I love reading your posts about traveling with Papa Franceso! Can’t wait to read about your takeaways from the plane interview…
Thank you Olivia! I am back in Rome now and final post coming soon.
I think we have photos of that same cat at Hagia Sofia! Trip down memory lane reading the post!
Oh, send me the photo of the cat. Wouldn’t it me funny if it was the same one!
Brilliant post – love the insight. I can NOT imagine what went through the Pope’s brain when he saw Erdogan’s $615 million palace. The palace’s floor area of 289,000 square meters (3.1 million square feet) and exceeds that of the world’s current largest residence, the Istana Nurul Iman palace of the Sultan of Brunei, which was completed in 1984 at a cost of a paltry $442 million. Do you know this man could have stopped Ebola for the cost of that “house?’ For crying out loud, he could have put a MAJOR dent in world hunger for the cost of that “house.” What goes through Erdogan’s head when he hosts someone like the Pope…
I think my brain is going to explode.
What can I say — Erdogan is becoming a sort of megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur. I hope the Turks can get him out office before it is too late. Did you hear about his recent comments on women? It was something along the lines of “gender equality is contrary to nature”. Hello?