Pope Leo lays wreath at grave of Turkish leader Atatürk despite links to anti-Christian genocides

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Pope Leo lays wreath at grave of Turkish leader Atatürk despite links to anti-Christian genocides
Under the leadership of Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, his forces committed widespread murder and persecution

 of Greek, Armenian, and other Christian minorities.



ANKARA, TURKEY – NOVEMBER 27: Pope Leo XIV lays a wreath during a visit to the Atatürk Mausoleum on November 27, 2025 in Ankara, Turkey.
Burak Kara/Getty Images

Dec 1, 2025
ANKARA, Turkey (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV paid homage at Atatürk’s tomb on November 27, 2025, at Anıtkabir in Ankara, despite the Turkish leader’s links to genocides against Christian minorities.

On November 27, 2025, in Ankara, Pope Leo XIV – arriving for his first apostolic visit to Turkey – paused at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, where he laid a wreath and signed the Honor Book. The visit, carried out according to a protocol consolidated over recent decades for diplomatic reasons, preceded the official meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the presidential palace, with the stated intention of promoting regional stability and dialogue among peoples at a time marked by international tensions and Turkey’s internal crises.

“May Turkey be a source of stability and of drawing peoples closer together, in the service of a just and lasting peace,” Pope Leo XIV declared, speaking before a large globe at the entrance of the presidential palace.

Atatürk remains, in fact, a deeply controversial figure. Referred to as the “Father of the Nation” for having led the War of Independence and launched an extensive modernization program, historians highlight troubling aspects of his political legacy. For example, under Atatürk’s leadership, his forces committed systemic murder and persecution of countless thousands of Greek, Armenian, and other Christians in Turkey, executed Christian clergy, and destroyed Christian monuments in the region, which was home to ancient Christian communities.

The new republican direction did not openly address the Armenian genocide committed by the Young Turk government between 1915 and 1923.

The tribute to Atatürk – the founder of the Turkish Republic in 1923 – has by now become standard diplomatic practice during papal visits to Turkey since the era of John Paul II. It was not always so: when Paul VI visited the country in 1967 he avoided Anıtkabir.

The turning point came with John Paul II in 1979, followed by Benedict XVI in 2006 and Francis in 2014, thereby consolidating in international protocol a gesture that acknowledges the founder of the Turkish secular state while avoiding the political interpretations surrounding his figure.

Some scholars also recall that the Young Turk movement, to which Atatürk was connected, had significant ties with Masonic circles of the time, an element that for decades has fueled critical interpretations of the nation-building process.

The Pope’s arrival took place at a time when Ankara has been attempting for years to define its own geopolitical role, presenting itself as an effective mediator between the Euro-American bloc and the Russo-Chinese one. Furthermore, Turkey aspires to become a new reference point for the Sunni Islamic world over Saudi Arabia, which several sectors of the Muslim public perceive as too close to the United States.

This balancing strategy has been particularly evident in the fact that a very large segment of the Turkish population openly supports the Palestinian cause and calls for an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

However, foreign policy is not the main concern of most citizens. The persistent cost-of-living crisis, fueled by high inflation and market fluctuations made worse by political uncertainty, remains the dominant issue.

This explains why Leo XIV’s jorney, although symbolically and diplomatically significant, went largely unnoticed in Turkish society and the local media, with the exception of the small but ancient Christian community. Fatma Cicek Geyik, a 57-year-old artist interviewed by the Associated Press, said that the Pope’s visit should not be “exaggerated” and that Turkey does not need to “elevate” foreign presences. “They will leave just as they came,” Geyik told reporters.

At the institutional meeting, Erdoğan welcomed the Pontiff with all the honors required by protocol, aware of the international weight of the visit in such a delicate moment. The Pope, who since the beginning of his pontificate has insisted on disarmed peace among peoples, reiterated the need to promote dialogue.

For the small Turkish Christian community – 0.6 percent of the population – the visit represents a sign of attention and hope. Yet the reason for Pope Leo’s apostolic visit to Ankara is primarily ecumenical, taking place on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and in the wake of the publication of the controversial Apostolic Letter In unitate fidei, in which the Catholic dogma of the Filioque appears to have been minimized in the name of dialogue with Eastern Orthodox Christians.