Around 20 members of a small Islamic political party staged a brief protest Friday in Iznik, Turkey, ahead of a meeting between Pope Leo XIV and the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians in the town.

Their meeting will mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, however the demonstrators argued that the event posed a threat to Turkey's sovereignty and national identity.

Under a heavy police presence, Mehmet Kaygusuz, a member of the New Welfare Party, read a statement denouncing what he said were efforts to establish a "Vatican-like Greek Orthodox state" in Turkey.

"The visit to İznik is not a religious act but a political manoeuvre," he said, as members of the party's youth branch waved Turkish flags and party emblems.

The group dispersed peacefully shortly afterwards.

Iznik, a town south of Istanbul, was known in Roman times as Nicaea.

It was here that the Council of Nicaea was held in 325 AD to produce the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that millions of Christians still recite each Sunday.

Pope Leo XIV is set to pray with Orthodox Christian leader Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, at the site of the gathering, which is today marked by the ruins of the Basilica of Saint Neophytos, built some 50 years after the council.

The pope will later return to Istanbul where he will hold a private meeting with bishops at the Apostolic Delegation, which serves as the Vatican’s consulate in the city.

AP video shot by: Mehmet Guzel