At the start of a key visit to Turkey, Pope Francis has stressed on the need to facilitate interfaith dialogue to counter fanaticism and fundamentalism.
In a speech in Ankara, he also called for a renewed push for peace in the Middle East, saying that the region had "for too long been a theatre of fratricidal wars," reported the BBC.
He urged Turkey to provide more help to refugees coming from conflict-torn Iraq and Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan termed the Pope's three-day visit a "significant" step to enhance regional peace.
The visit is only the fourth visit by a pope to Muslim-majority Turkey. It comes as the nation hosts 1.6 million refugees on its southern border after the Islamic State (IS) seized large territories in Syria and Iraq.
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