Turkey's foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, said Benedict's visit could help "remove some misunderstandings" between Christians and Muslims.

"The messages the pope gives here will, of course, be very important," Gul said at a news conference.

But the protesters sent a loud signal that the pope is not welcome until he offers a full apology for his remarks in September, in which he quoted a medieval Christian emperor characterizing some of Muhammad's teachings as "evil and inhuman."

The Vatican has expressed regret for offending Muslims and sorrow for the violent backlash that included attacks on churches in the Holy Land. The intent of the remarks, the Vatican said, was to draw attention to the incompatibility of faith and violence.

"The pope was disrespectful to us and he needs to apologize," said one banner at the demonstration.

Seafetin Tuleg, 70, wrapped himself in the flag of rally organizers and said Muslims revere the Jewish and Christian prophets, but do not receive the same respect for their own. "We love Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, but the pope doesn't love Muhammad and Islam," he said.

Officially, Turkey is a rigidly secular republic, though around 99 per cent of its population is Muslim.

In 2004 - before becoming pope - the then- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger cast doubt on whether Turkey has a place among EU nations. "Turkey has always represented a different continent, in permanent contrast to Europe," he was quoted by the French magazine Le Figaro as saying.

The Vatican spokesman, Lombardi, played down those comments Sunday in an interview with Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency, saying the Vatican was not against Turkey joining the EU if it fulfilled membership criteria.

Also at the Vatican, Benedict expressed his "feelings of esteem and of sincere friendship" for Turks and their leaders.

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