ICC Note:  The Turkish authorities closely regulate Christians ability to train religious leaders, in many cases making it almost impossible to achieve within the country. The Greek Orthodox Theological School has been closed for forty-seven years, a situation that has drawn much criticism from the European Commission and other human rights groups. The Patriarch is hopeful that the situation will improve and the school reopened this upcoming September.   

05/14/2018 Turkey (Ahval) – Halki Seminary is expected to reopened in September.

Istanbul Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomeos stated that he expected the Heybeliada Theological School (Halki Seminary) would be reopened no later than September this year, during an interview with Greek-Australian newspaper Kosmos this week.

The Halki Seminary was closed in 1971, after the Turkish Parliament enacted a law banning private higher education institutions.

In his interview, Patriarch Bartholomeos, who is also a graduate of the Halki Seminary, talked about a recent meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. According to the discussions made during this meeting, Bartholomeos expects Turkish government to reopen the school before the new educational year begins in September 2018.

The Halki Seminary is an emblem of the rights of minority groups in Turkey and its situation has been cited in various reports on the issue, particularly in the annual country reports for Turkey prepared by the European Commission.

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