Muammer Karabulut, the chairman of the Saint Nicholas Foundation, said the concerns were related to the pontiff's support for the policy pursued by the Constantinople Patriarchate, which claimed jurisdiction over all eparchies beyond canonical territories belonging to Orthodox churches.

"The trip is nothing other than a move aiming to secure international recognition for ecumenism (world-wide status) of the Constantinople Patriarchate," Karabulut said. "The Roman Catholic Church would be making an irrevocable mistake if it did this, so we believe it would be reasonable to postpone Benedict XVI's trip to Istanbul."

He also said that the Constantinople Patriarchate had lost its ecumenism in 1434.

The ecumenical work of the current patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, has repeatedly led to disputes in recent years in Turkey's political circles over of the Patriarchate's status.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul recently drew the line under arguments, by saying that the Constantinople Patriarchate would retain its current status under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which also determined the current status of Turkey. The treaty "has no reference either to the patriarchate's or the patriarch's status," the minister said.

"If Benedict XVI visited Hagia Sophia Cathedral, [the Church of the Holy Wisdom in Istanbul], it would lead to unnecessary arguments and protests in Turkey," Karabulut said.

Experts said the heightened interest in the pontiff's trip to Istanbul was due to upcoming discussions between Turkey and the European Union on the country's EU membership. European watchers have highlighted the differences between the positions of the pontiff and the Constantinople patriarch on the issue, because as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prior to becoming the head of the Catholic Church, the current pope publicly opposed Turkish membership in the EU, whereas Patriarch Bartholomew supported it.

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