Leo XIV arrives in Turkey on his first trip outside the Vatican

Pope Leo XIV landed Thursday in Turkey for a four-day visit, the first foreign trip of his pontificate, which will include a second stop in Lebanon. Under the motto "One Lord, one faith, one baptism," the pontiff will stop in Iznik to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea. Later, from Sunday, Nov. 30 to Tuesday, Dec. 2, he will visit Lebanon.

The first American pope arrived in the capital Ankara at 12:20 local time, where he plans to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and speak to the diplomatic corps before flying to Istanbul in the afternoon.

Leo XIV's apostolic journey fulfills Francis' expressed desire to return to Turkey, The highlight will be in Iznik, at the archaeological excavations of the ancient Basilica of St. Neophytus, where the Pope, who will visit the Basilica of St. Neophytus, is expected to meet with the Pope in Istanbul in the afternoon where the Pope, together with Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew, will pray with a score of patriarchs and representatives of Christian churches before icons of Christ and the Council and the lighting of a candle.

The plight of Christians in 'secular' Turkey

In his first stop in Turkey, the Pope will address the situation of Christians in the country. Despite some advances in their rights, Christians still still struggle with inequality and a certain sense of exclusion in the country.

Although the officially secular and majority Muslim state has offered them land to build a church in Istanbul, some civil service positions remain closedin practice to non-Muslim minorities, despite no legal prohibition. According to historians, there are now only about 100,000 Christians left in Turkey, compared with nearly 4 million at the beginning of the 20th century.

Leo XIV plans to meet with local Christian leadersat the Mor Ephrem Assyrian Orthodox Church, opened in Istanbul in 2023. Although the land was given by the state, it isthe only new church built in Turkey since it became a republic in 1923.

"They don't see us as full citizens"

Speaking to AFP, Yuhanna Aktas, president of the Assyrian Union representing Assyrian Christians in southeastern Turkey denounced that, despite the theory, "They don't see us as full citizens."

For Erdogan, it isa question of numbers, recalling that there is no law requiring one to be a Muslim to hold office in the country. "In Turkey, 99% of the population is Muslim," the president often repeats about this country of 86 million inhabitants.

"The only non-Muslim high official currently in Turkey is a local administrator from the Armenian community," notes Yetvart Danzikyan, editor-in-chief of the Armenian weekly Agos.

"Enemies from within"

Since Turkey became a republic, Christians and Jewswere labeled by government authorities and media as the "internal enemies" for decades. They were also targets of discrimination and violence, even until the early 2000s. And the word "Armenian" is still sometimes considered an insult.

In its 2024 report on Turkey, the London-based Minority Rights Group (MRG) noted that "non-Muslims are constantly discriminated against because promoters of Turkish nationalism consider them unfit to be Turks due to their religious identity."

At the same time, certain events have worried the population, such as the increasing turn toward conservative nationalismunder Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government, Danzikyan commented.

Episodes of violence

Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was killed in 2007 in Istanbul, and four years later, a young Armenian was murdered while doing his military service.

In 2020, Armenians faced serious threats during the Nagorno-Karabakh warand in 2024, two gunmen stormed a Catholic templein Istanbul where they killed one person and wounded another. Also of concern was the controversial decision to convert the Hagia Sophia basilica, an iconic 4th-century structure, into a mosque in 2020, Danzikyan said. It was previously a museum.

However, some observers note that ethe country has opened up slightly and progressivelyover the past 20 years and that civil society has been more willing to remember the Armenian genocide, something Ankara does not acknowledge. "More and more people are asking questions rather than clinging to their prejudices," maintained Vingas, who extolled the emergence of "a much more open society, especially in Istanbul," where most of Turkey's Christians live.