HALKI SEMINARY READY FOR BUSINESS

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

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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.

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The Voyage
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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."

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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.

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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

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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