ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE: METROPOLITAN DOWNBEAT ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISTANBUL 001825 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2015 TAGS: PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE: METROPOLITAN DOWNBEAT ON GOT INTENTIONS, EU ABILITY TO CHANGE THEM REF: A. ISTANBUL 1766 ¶B. ANKARA 6316 ¶C. 04 ISTANBUL 975 ¶D. 04 ANKARA 6229 ¶E. 04 ANKARA 3059 Classified By: Consul General Deborah K. Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Metropolitan Meliton of Philadelphia, a senior advisor at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, expressed his skepticism October 13 to visiting EUR/SE Director Doug Silliman about the GOT's ability and willingness to move the Halki seminary issue forward. Silliman underlined USG support for the Patriarchate, and noted that USG officials raise the issue of Halki Seminary often with senior government officials, as illustrated by President Bush's raising the issue in his June 2005 meeting with Prime Minister Erdogan. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Silliman inquired as to whether the discussion of the Halki issue might be included in the EU's Education and Culture chapter's screening, due to begin October 26. Unlike Patriarch Bartholomew I, Meliton evinced little optimism on Minister of Education Celik's latest remarks on Halki (ref A),or about the EU's ability to push Turkey forward on this issue. There has been nothing new from the GOT, he said: no dialogue, no movement, no will (Note: See ref B for Higher Education Council Chairman Tezic's October 17 comments to Charge. End note.). He aso mentioned the Patriarchate had written to Alvro Gil-Robles, the Council of Europe's Commissioer orHumn ighs,an received no reply. He el tht e ad o oin f contact on the Europea Commission. ¶3. (C) Meliton stressed the plitical nature of the government's approach to te seminary issue, arguing it has nothing to do wth the technical and legal aspects of finding a orkable solution. If the political will is found,the right formula will emere,he ai, adng ht either the Higher Educaio Concl (OK, wth authority over universities in Turkey, or the Ministry of Education could serve equally well as an institutional umbrella for the seminary. (Note: This contradicts what we have heard most often from Patriarchate representatives, i.e. that a seminary under YOK control would not be acceptable. End note.) ¶4. (C) Comment: Meliton commented that he used to be "courageous," but that he had lost hope that Turkish officials would respond to the Patriarchate's concerns -- some of them life and death issues for the community's survival. Meanwhile, some observers in the Turkish press have linked the re-opening of Halki seminary with the imam-hatip school issue (ref d). (Note: Halki had functioned previously as a vocational school, the same status that imam-hatip schools enjoy. End note.) ¶5. (C) It is conceivable that some within the GOT could seize upon the Halki issue to move forward their agenda on imam-hatip schools, but any proposed formula for Halki's re-opening that inadvertently strengthens the status of those schools and their graduates would be sure to raise the hackles of the secular community. Interestingly, public visits by U.S. officials to imam-hatip schools was one of the suggestions made by Cuneyd Zapsu, an advisor to Prime Minister Erdogan, to visiting Under Secretary Karen Hughes, as a means of countering accusations in a recent Washington Times editorial that the AKP had "islamo-facist" tendencies. End Comment. JONES