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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000231 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2019 
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV OSCE TU GR
SUBJECT: HALKI SEMINARY MERELY ONE STEP TOWARD ENSURING 
CONTINUATION OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHY 
 
REF: A. ISTANBUL 140 
     ¶B. ISTANBUL 72 
     ¶C. 08 ISTANBUL 595 
     ¶D. MOSCOW 689 
 
Classified By: DCM Doug Silliman for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
This is a joint Istanbul/Ankara report. 
 
¶1. (C) Summary. Closed since 1971, Halki Seminary is touted 
by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul and Greek Orthodox 
communities in the United States as being key to the survival 
of the Patriarchate. Turkey's remaining community of 2,500 
Greek Orthodox is not large enough to maintain the 
Patriarchate and the ability to train clergy at the seminary 
again could help to expand the staff at the Patriarchate. 
The patriarchate has certain requirements for the reopening 
of the school - requirements not met by GOT offers to reopen 
the school as part of the Turkish university system. Since 
2008, however, the Patriarchate has not formally addressed 
the issue with the GOT. End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Patriarchate's Requirements for Halki Seminary 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) According to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and 
the Ecumenical Patriarchate's press relations official 
Father Dositheos, the reopening of Halki Seminary on Heybeli 
Island in the Sea of Marmara outside of Istanbul is 
crucial to the survival of the Ecumenical Greek Orthodox 
Patriarchate in Istanbul (Ref A).  They argue that without 
new priests and qualified successors to the position of 
Ecumenical Patriarch, "Turkey will have succeeded in 
suffocating the Greek population and the Patriarchate in 
Turkey."  Currently there are close to 2,500 Greek Orthodox 
Turkish citizens in Turkey, fifty percent of whom are over 
the age of 50.  While there are Greek Orthodox schools in 
Istanbul, the number of students attending is diminishing, 
according to the Patriarchate. 
 
¶3. (C) According to Father Dositheos, the Patriarchate would 
like to see the seminary reopened with the same 
administrative system used prior to its closure in 1971.  It 
was administered as a yuksek meslek okulu (a tertiary 
level vocational school similar to existing nursing or 
tourism programs that issue certificates rather than 
university diplomas) under the control of the education 
ministry first of the Ottoman Empire and later of the 
Turkish Republic.  The Ecumenical Patriarch was the school's 
spiritual leader, but there had always been a 
Turkish citizen deputy principal who ensured that regulations 
were followed.  A Turkish citizen deputy 
principal is no longer required by regulation in foundation 
schools, but the Patriarchate would be open to maintaining 
such a position.  Dositheos said the seminary's entire 
curriculum, including the theology curriculum, had been 
vetted with the Ministry of Education. 
 
¶4. (C) While the GOT has offered to incorporate the seminary 
into a Turkish university's theological faculty, 
the Patriarchate has refused this offer because the seminary 
is the only location that could offer a true 
"laboratory for the practice of monastic/religious life" 
which is incompatible with study at a modern Turkish 
university.  According to Dositheos and the Patriarch, female 
students are unacceptable, clerical dress is a 
requirement, and full participation in liturgy is mandatory 
in the seminary.  Bartholomew has clarified that the 
patriarchate has no concerns with oversight by the Higher 
Board of Education (YOK) (Ref A). 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
A Question of Constitutionality or Political Will? 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The GOT refuses to open Halki as a theological 
school because it contends such an action violates the 
Turkish Constitution in which a perceived challenge of the 
secular order of Turkey, based even upon human rights, is 
not permissible. State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister 
Cemil Cicek contended that to open a private religious 
school would violate the Constitution and therefore would 
require a constitutional amendment.  However, the 
Patriarchate is quick to point out that the seminary never 
was a private religious school, instead it functioned with 
the oversight of YOK until 1971, and no constitutional change 
closed the school. (Note: The current (1983) Constitution 
does not explicitly prohibit foundation schools - nominally 
 
ISTANBUL 00000231  002 OF 002 
 
 
private institutions of higher education under the 
supervision of the state. End note.) 
 
¶6. (C) Cicek also presented a common concern with the opening 
of a religious school: other religious populations 
- like the Saudis, Taliban, and extremist Islamic groups - 
could demand the same right.  In contrast, human 
rights activist and lawyer Orhan Kemal Cengiz points out that 
unlike Islam, Christianity requires clergy for its 
services.  The opening of a seminary is crucial for the 
survival of that religious population in Turkey and 
distinct in purpose from the intentions of Islamic religious 
schools. 
 
--------------------- 
The Reciprocity Issue 
--------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) According to Deputy PM Cicek and senior MFA 
officials in February 2009, the rights of the Muslim 
minority in Greece are not being respected and they pointed 
to inequitable funding of minority schools in Western 
Thrace and a cut-back in the number of Turkish-speaking 
teachers allowed to enter Greece to teach at these 
schools.  While not expressly demanding a quid pro quo, GOT 
officials made clear that action by Athens would go far in 
helping resolve the Halki issue (Ref B).  We note that the 
Lausanne Treaty of 1923 does not mention reciprocity but 
instead outlines the responsibilities of the Greek and 
Turkish governments to their respective minority communities. 
 
¶8. (C) Comment: Given the very limited pool from which 
potential Halki seminarians currently eligible to become 
Ecumenical Patriarch would come and the ability of Orthodox 
Turks to pursue religious studies abroad - the re-opening of 
Halki would not in and of itself "save" the Ecumenical 
Patriarchate. Halki's opening would instead provide a 
training ground for clergy to staff the Patriarchate and 
other churches around the world. It would be yet another 
seminary, like those in Greece and elsewhere, and potentially 
a 'neutral ground' where clerics in training 
from the various national orthodox churches could study 
together. If Prime Minister Erdogan were to propose 
re-opening Halki, it would be an important and welcome 
symbolic gesture signifying a new relationship between the 
GOT and Turkey's minority communities. End Comment. 
OUDKIRK