DHAKA: Pope Francis is due to arrive in Istanbul on the second day of his three-day visit to Turkey.

He will meet Muslim and Christian leaders of the city, which as Constantinople was Byzantine’s capital until the Ottoman conquest in 1453.

The Pope will also visit a mosque and hold mass at a Catholic cathedral, reports the BBC.

On Friday, he called for an interfaith dialogue to counter fanaticism and fundamentalism during a visit to the Turkish capital Ankara.

He also called for a renewed Middle East peace push, saying the region had ‘for too long been a theatre of fratricidal wars’.

The Pope’s trip is only the fourth visit by a pontiff to Turkey. Most of the country’s 80 million citizens are Muslims, and there are about 120,000 Christians.

BDST: 1423 HRS, NOV 29, 2014