Will he or won't he?

Speculation that someone from the Turkish government will, after all, condescend to meet with the Roman Pontiff during his visit to Turkey later in the month: the foreign minister, Mr Abdullah Gul, perhaps.  The Patriarch of Constantinople has, in an interview given yesterday in the newspaper Sabah, "cautioned Turks":

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said the Pope's trip, scheduled for Nov. 28-Dec. 1, was a great opportunity for the country, and one that should not be disrupted by violent protest.  He warned that if protests turn violent, they could cause problems for Turkey in its efforts to join the European Union.

Alas, were I in the sad position of the Greeks in Turkey I suppose I would be playing the exclusion-from-Euroland card as often as I could, too.  Unfortunately--from the one point of view--Paris and Nicosia may be in the game: and when one or both of them play their trumps, the Greeks may wish they had never associated themselves with the Euro project.  Mr Gul is thinking of all of this, and Mr Erdogan.