Turkish parliament fails to pass resolution to reopen Orthodox seminary
By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Writer
Associated Press Worldstream
September 20, 2006 Wednesday 9:48 PM GMT
ANKARA Turkey — Turkey’s parliament on Wednesday failed to pass a
resolution to move forward with a European Union-requested reform
that could have allowed a Greek Orthodox theology school closed 35
years ago to reopen.
The parliament first voted in favor the resolution, but then stopped
short of giving final approval amid strong opposition. The ruling
Justice and Development Party was expected to step back and withdraw
the change on Thursday, in a sign of internal opposition to the highly
unpopular move.
Lawmakers from the ruling party voted by a show of hands to allow
foreign students to attend minority schools in Turkey upon a last
minute request from the Foreign Ministry.
But legislators from the opposition Republican People’s Party opposed
the reform, arguing that it would reopen the Halki Theological School,
on an island near Istanbul, which was closed in 1971 under a law that
put religious education under state control.
The opposition party said the school was shut down because of lack of
students and that the motion would allow it to reopen. The opposition
party forced the parliament to give a one-hour break during which
some members of the ruling party reportedly complained about the
measure as well.
The ruling party has a majority in the 550-member parliament and was
expected to take back the change Thursday before finalizing other
amendments regarding minority schools such as providing electricity
and water at discount rates as well.
If it had been approved, the reopening of Halki would have appeased
the European Union and the United States.
EU officials and Washington have repeatedly called on Turkey to open up
the religious seminary that has trained generations of Orthodox leaders
and restore property to minority Christian groups that were seized
by the state due to a decline in the size of their congregations.
The parliament is expected to address the property issue in the
coming days too. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said reforms would
address the problems of minority religious groups such as Greeks and
Armenians but was not clear if they would allow the groups to reclaim
property that has since been sold to other people.
The Halki school trained generations of church leaders, including
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and Orthodox officials say the
school’s reopening is important for educating future leaders.
The patriarchate in Istanbul dates from the 1,100-year-old Orthodox
Greek Byzantine Empire, which collapsed when the Muslim Ottoman Turks
conquered Constantinople, today’s Istanbul, in 1453.
Istanbul-based Bartholomew I is the leader of the world’s Orthodox
Christians, although only a few thousand Greeks now live in Turkey.
He also directly controls several Greek Orthodox churches around the
world, including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
But Turkey has long refused to accept any international role for the
patriarch, a Turkish citizen and ethnic Greek, and rejects his use
of the title "ecumenical," or universal. It argues the patriarch is
merely the spiritual leader of Istanbul’s dwindling Orthodox community.
Turkey’s desire to contain Bartholomew’s influence to Istanbul stems
from a deep mistrust many Turks feel toward the patriarchate because of
its traditional ties with Greece, Turkey’s historical regional rival.
Bartholomew has been actively lobbying for the reopening of Halki.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
