New York City Major Michael Bloomberg, center, accompanied by Istanbul Mayor Ali Mufit Gurtuna, right, and Turkey's Tourism Minister Mustafa Tasar visits an exhibition at Topakpi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday Sept. 21, 2002. Bloomberg visited the exhibition at Topkapi Palace called: " True Colors: Meditations on the American Spirit " The exhibition has been organized by Meridian International Center in Washington D.C. as an artistic response to the tragedy of September 11. Bloomberg is in Istanbul for a one-day private visit. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)

NYC Mayor Tours Exhibit in Turkey
Esra Aygin, The Associated Press, ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Touring a former Ottoman palace housing an exhibit on Sept. 11, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Saturday that the terror attacks were aimed at "all people who desired to live free."

Bloomberg visited Topkapi Palace for an exhibition of paintings by some 70 American artists depicting the attacks. The traveling exhibition, "True Colors: Meditations on the American Spirit," opened Sept. 11 in Istanbul.

"The attack on Sept. 11 may have taken place physically in Manhattan but it was an attack on all people who desired to live free," Bloomberg said.

"The support we have gotten from Turkey comforted many Americans and will be remembered long years," he said.

Bloomberg later visited Ecu-menical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians.

On Saturday, Bartholomew praised New York as "the first capital of the United States, the true capital of the world and now, more then ever, the capital of our hearts."

The mayor and his daughter, Emma Bloomberg, lit candles at the Patriarchate's church.

Bloomberg praised Bartholomew as "a person who has tried to bring people of all faiths together."

The Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul dates from the Orthodox Greek By Empire, which collapsed when the Muslim Ottoman Turks conquered the city. Istanbul, then called Constantinople, was the capital of the Byzantine empire, and thus the heart of Greek culture for more than 1,000 years.

Although few Christians remain in overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey today, Bartholomew's patriarchate is still based in Istanbul and directly controls several Greek Orthodox churches around the world.

Bartholomew has been active in promoting a dialogue between faiths since the Sept. 11 attacks.

New York houses the largest and most significant urban concentration of Greek-Americans in the United States. The huge Greek-American community in New York, with about 100,000 living in Astoria, Queens, is also the most influential Greek Diaspora community in the world.

Before coming to Istanbul, Bloomberg was in Athens to attend a world mayors' conference.

Bloomberg, one of the richest men in America, is personally paying his travel expenses to save city money, spokesman Edward Skyler said. Turkish newspapers focused strongly on this fact to criticize local politicians.