Dozens of nationalists protested against Pope Benedict?s visit to predominantly Muslim Turkey yesterday and called on him to stay away from Aya Sofya, which was once Christianity?s largest church and is now a museum.

Amid heavy police presence in central Istanbul, more than 50 supporters of the Grand Unity Party (BBP) waved banners displaying ?Pope get out of Turkey? and chanted ?Aya Sofya is Turkish and will remain Turkish.? Benedict visited the Aya Sofya, known by its Greek name Hagia Sophia (Church of Holy Wisdom), later yesterday.

On conquering the city in 1453, Sultan Mehmet went to the church and prayed, turning it into a mosque. As part of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk?s drive to modernize Turkey, it was secularized and turned into a museum in 1934.

Nationalist and Islamist Turks were outraged when Pope Paul VI prayed at the museum in 1967, causing a diplomatic incident.

Turkish police have been deployed in force during Benedict?s visit, but protests have been small.