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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 002141 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: HALKI SEMINARY READY FOR BUSINESS 
 
REF: 05 ANKARA 6316 
 
ISTANBUL 00002141  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: We visited the Ecumenical Patriarchate's 
Halki Seminary with a delegation of Greek Orthodox American 
citizens during their annual Feast of St. Andrew pilgrimage 
to Istanbul, coinciding this year with Pope Benedict XVI's 
trip to Turkey.  The seminary is the subject of a 
long-standing dispute with the Government of Turkey (GOT), 
which closed the theological school in 1971 after passing a 
law prohibiting private religious institutions of higher 
education.  Though comments made by the current GOT 
indicating a willingness to re-open the seminary have yet to 
bear fruit, we saw an institution that was ready to open its 
doors as soon as it receives permission to do so.  End 
summary. 
 
---------- 
The Voyage 
---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Consulate staff joined a group of 150 Greek Orthodox 
American citizens November 27 to tour the Ecumenical 
Patriarchate's Theological School of Halki.  The distance 
between Istanbul city limits and Heybeli Island, where Halki 
seminary is located, is measured not only in nautical miles 
but also in time.  There are no cars on the island and were 
it not for the Coca Cola sign which greets visitors as they 
disembark, and the ubiquitous satellite dishes, the island 
would appear to be much the same as it was when the seminary 
first opened its doors in 1844.  The reverence directed at 
Hagia Sophia as the ferry passed the Byzantine-era Orthodox 
cathedral (now a museum) on the way 
to the island was palpable, and suggested that some of our 
fellow passengers might have wished to go back much further 
in time.  One, when offered a Turkish coffee by a fellow 
pilgrim, exclaimed with disgust, "I prefer to call it 'Greek' 
coffee." 
 
----------- 
The Dispute 
----------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Time appears to have stood still for Halki Seminary 
since 1971, when it closed its doors to students subsequent 
to the GOT's passing of a regulation nationalizing all 
private institutions of higher learning.  (At the time, this 
was a post-coup measure put in place to try to gain control 
of the universities/student populations that had participated 
in country-wide rioting).  Despite private commitments and 
public declarations by members of the current Truth and 
Development Party (AKP)-led Administration indicating a 
willingness to re-open the school (reftel), no action has 
been taken.  Meanwhile, the Ecumenical Patriarchate laments 
that seminarians must seek training elsewhere and often do 
not return to Turkey.  Since current Turkish law requires 
that the successor to any Patriarch be a Turkish national, 
adherents believe keeping the seminary closed is a tactic 
designed to figuratively cut off the main artery feeding the 
heart of the Greek Orthodox church, effectively killing the 
institution. 
 
-------- 
The Tour 
-------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Horse-drawn carriages took us from the ferry to the 
top of a hill and the front gates of the Halki Theological 
School.  Walking through the gates, we were immediately 
struck by two sights.  The first was the impeccable care with 
which the grounds were maintained--palm trees and flowers in 
bloom belied the 
calendar month and the island's geographical position.  The 
second, belying the disputed status of the seminary itself, 
was a prominent plaque accompanying a bust of Ataturk, citing 
his famous mantra, "Peace at Home, Peace in the World." 
 
¶5. (SBU) Metropolitan Apostolos, abbot of the Monastery of 
the Holy Trinity, greeted us on the front steps and took us 
to the monastery's small church where he subsequently led a 
short religious ceremony under the gilded icons of the church 
walls.  The Consul General was invited to say a few words at 
its conclusion and we were then escorted to the school's 
auditorium where, under the watchful gaze of the life-size 
portraits of former Halki faculty members, a Fordham 
University professor of theology delivered a briefing about 
the nature of the "Grand Schism" between the Orthodox and 
Catholic churches.  The Consul General was again invited to 
speak, and cited ongoing USG support for the re-opening of 
the Halki Seminary and the continued health and survival of 
 
ISTANBUL 00002141  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
the Ecumenical Patriarchate.  Our hosts then served the 
entire delegation a four-course lunch in the cafeteria and 
for the first time, it was possible to imagine how the school 
must have appeared in the past with a full community of 
students and faculty. 
 
¶6. (SBU) We continued our tour through the school's long 
corridors, our voices echoing between the marble floors and 
cathedral ceilings.  The classrooms flanking the hallways 
appeared just as they did 35 years ago, with 19th century 
wooden desks lined up in columns and rows waiting for the 
opportunity to host their next round of students.  The beds 
in the dormitories were carefully made up with fresh linens. 
We ended our visit at the school's impressive library, which 
dates back to the Byzantine era and includes over 50,000 
volumes, some of which are over a thousand years old, as well 
as an extensive up-to-date periodical collection which is 
used today by visiting academics, theologians and researchers. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment:  Halki seminary, though only one aspect of 
a much larger dispute between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and 
the GOT involving the Patriarchate's legal identity and 
property confiscations, has become symbolic of the Ecumenical 
Patriarchate's overall plight.  The GOT previously has 
indicated a willingness to open the school under the auspices 
of the Ministry of Education.  Though the Ecumenical 
Patriarchate is agreeable in principle to such an 
arrangement, rifts concerning the level of autonomy granted 
in the school's administration keep the two sides from 
finding a solution.  In the past, Kemalist-oriented 
governments refused to open Halki out of fear that doing so 
would lead to similar rights being afforded to Imam Hatip 
(Islamic preacher) vocational schools; other sources tell us 
that while the AK governmnt was prepared to re-open the 
seminary, the Turish military remains staunchly opposed to 
reopenng what it believes has the potential for creatinga 
"nest of spies" or the beginnings of a "state wthin a 
state," a la the Vatican, in secularist Trkey.  Ecumenical 
Patriarchate sources tell us--nd our tour observations would 
support their staements--that if and when a solution is 
found, thy have a team ready to staff Halki Seminary and 
oen its doors immediately.  End comment. 
JONES