Rome: Pope Francis faces a diplomatic quandary when he visits Turkey for the first time this month, after Turkish architects urged him not to set foot in a 1000-room palace built by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Pope will make a three-day trip to Ankara and Istanbul during which he is expected to speak out about the threat of Islamist extremism and the persecution of Christians in Syria and Iraq.

Room at the top: Recep Tayyip Erdogan's grandiose new presidential palace. Credit:AFP

He is poised to be the first foreign dignitary to be invited to the sprawling palace, which was controversially built in parkland bequeathed to the Turkish people by Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish state.

The Pope will arrive in Ankara on November 28 and, according to the official Vatican itinerary, will go straight to the presidential palace for a welcome ceremony and a meeting with Mr Erdogan.