Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday ordered officials to revive talks on reopening an Orthodox Christian seminary near Istanbul, according to Reuters.
The issue of reopening the seminary was raised by US President Donald Trump ahead of his expected visit to Ankara for a NATO summit next month.
Founded in 1844, the Halki seminary served as the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s main theological school and a key center for training Eastern Orthodox clergy, including Patriarch Bartholomew of Istanbul, before Turkish authorities closed it in 1971.
Trump raised the issue during talks with Erdogan in Washington last year.
Türkiye, a Muslim-majority secular state, has long come under pressure from Greece, the United States and the European Union to reopen the theological school on Heybeliada island near Istanbul.
The issue has entered a “new phase,” Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon said, after Erdogan ordered Türkiye’s Higher Education Council to continue discussions with a Patriarchate committee.
“For the Patriarchate, after decades of inaction, the water has entered the trough,” Metropolitan Emmanuel, whose diocese covers Istanbul, said.
He further noted that both parties still have to finish renovation work on the building complex and reach agreement on the legal and educational framework for its operation.
In 1971, authorities shut the Halki seminary after a Constitutional Court ruling required private higher education institutions to be linked to state universities, a condition the Patriarchate refused to accept.
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