Benedict said Sunday that he was "deeply sorry" that Muslims took offense, and stressed that the emperor's words did not reflect his own opinion.

Malaysia, which chairs the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, had demanded that the pope offer a full apology and retract what he said.

"I think we can accept it and we hope there are no more statements that can anger the Muslims," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told Malaysian journalists late Monday in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly.

Abdullah's comments, carried Tuesday by the national news agency Bernama, came after he met with President Bush, who told the Malaysian leader he believed that Benedict was sincere in apologizing.

Seven churches in the West Bank and Gaza were attacked following Benedict's comments. Damage was minor and no one was hurt, but it unsettled the small Christian minority, which accounts for about 2 percent of the 3.4 million Palestinians.

In Ankara Tuesday, the protesters demanded that the Justice Ministry arrest the pope upon his arrival in Turkey, where he should be tried on charges of insulting Islam and causing hatred based on religious differences, local media reported.

Ilnur Cevik, editor-in-chief of The New Anatolian newspaper, said in a commentary that the pope must reach out to Muslims before visiting.

"How can the pope make amends and convince the masses with religious sensitivities in Turkey that he is not an enemy of Islam and that he wants to forge an atmosphere of coexistence?" Cevik wrote. "If he fails to do this, it will be very hard for the Turkish people to give him a warm welcome."

In Turkey, the pope's remarks strengthened the widespread view that he is hostile to the country's campaign for membership in the European Union.

As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the pope questioned whether the EU should open its doors to Turkey, saying it might be incompatible with European culture.

Secular Turkey's ruling Islamic-rooted government accused the pope after his latest remarks of trying to revive the spirit of the Crusades, and called on him to offer a sincere and personal apology.

Catholic bishops met in Istanbul on Monday and decided the pope's visit to Turkey in November should go ahead, said Monsignor Georges Marovitch, the Vatican embassy spokesman in Turkey. The pope was invited by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a staunchly secular leader.

Benedict is scheduled to visit Turkey from November 28 to December 1, where a focus of his visit will be meeting with the Istanbul-based leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Bartholomew I.

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