Turkish PM agrees to meet pope

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ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused of snubbing Pope Benedict on his first official trip to a Muslim country, says he has agreed to meet the pontiff when he arrives in Ankara on Tuesday.

The Turkish leader had initially said he could not meet the pope because of a scheduling conflict with the two-day NATO summit in Latvia which begins on Tuesday.

Many saw the move as a snub in light of recent tensions following a controversial speech in Germany in which the pope quoted a 14th century emperor who said Prophet Mohammed's teachings were "evil and inhuman." (Read full story about security preps for pope's visit)

But on Monday he reversed the decision, according to the Turkish government and the Vatican.

"The prime minister will meet the pope and an adjustment (in plans) has been made accordingly," government spokesman Akif Beki told Reuters in Ankara. Erdogan will meet the pope at Ankara's airport before he takes off for Riga, the news agency reported.

Pope Benedict has made a series of increasingly apologetic statements since his speech in September and said he did not share the view about Muslims.

The four-day visit to Turkey -- a secular Muslim country that is geographically and culturally part of both Europe and Asia -- is billed as an opportunity to heal wounds with the Muslim world but there have been some protests.

More than 20,000 Muslim youths rallied in Istanbul on Sunday, beating drums and waving Turkish red and white flags chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) in the peaceful rally. (Full story)

"I cannot remain silent when the Prophet Mohammed is insulted. I love him more than myself," Husamettin Aycan Alp, 25, a science student from Izmir in western Turkey, told Reuters.

The pontiff will arrive in Ankara amid tight security on Tuesday and plans to wrap up his trip on Friday after visiting Istanbul -- formerly Constantinople -- and the site where the Virgin Mary is believed to have lived and died near Izmir on the Aegean coast.

Speaking in the Vatican on Sunday, Benedict said he wanted the visit to show his "esteem and sincere friendship" for Turkey and its people.

A visit to Istanbul's famous Blue Mosque was added to the pope's itinerary, a move seen as a bid for further reconciliation.

His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, made the first visit by a pontiff to a mosque during a trip to Damascus in 2001. Pope John Paul paid the last papal visit to Turkey in 1979.