Bartolomeo: Erdogan ha dato disposizioni per la riapertura della Scuola Teologica di Halki

In his statement to the Greek press, he is hopeful for the reopening of the Theological School of Halki, and it’s been instructed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, says Bartholomew, the Archbishop of Constantinople. Two meetings between the school’s committee and the Ministry of National Education advisors were held to determine the scope and operations of the school – another team of five from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople will make a visit to Ankara next week to confer the technical details.

The school can reopen in two years if negotiations come out successful. “We’re implementing the required preparations for the reopening”, says Education Minister Yusuf Tekin. The second oldest academic institution to cultivate clergy in the field, after the University of Athens School of Theology, it was closed in 1971 after the school opposed government audit.

This is big news, if it actually pulls through, not just for Orthodoxy globally but more specifically for religious freedom in Turkey. Erdogan can be baiting though for whateverbpolitical gain he sees in the horizon, I’ll trust it after the seminary has been open for 15 years.