Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has instructed officials to resume discussions on reopening the historic Halki Seminary near Istanbul, a long-standing issue that was raised by U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of an expected NATO summit visit to Ankara next month.
The seminary, founded in 1844 and closed by Turkish authorities in 1971, served as the principal theological school of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It trained generations of Orthodox clergy, including current Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.
According to Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, whose diocese covers Istanbul, the issue has entered a "new phase" after Erdoğan directed Türkiye's higher education authority to continue talks with a Patriarchate committee.
While no timetable has been announced, Emmanuel suggested that progress was finally being made after decades of inactivity.
"For the Patriarchate, after decades of inaction, the water has entered the trough," he said, indicating that institutional work on the project has begun.
Emmanuel said both sides must still complete renovation work on the seminary complex and agree on the legal and educational framework under which the institution would operate.
The Halki Seminary is located on Heybeliada, one of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul.
The reopening of the seminary has been a recurring point of discussion between Türkiye and its Western partners. The country has faced calls from Greece, the United States and the European Union to allow the institution to resume operations.
The school was closed in 1971 after a ruling by Türkiye's Constitutional Court required all private higher education institutions to be affiliated with state universities. The Patriarchate opposed the requirement, leading to the seminary's closure.
If reopened, the institution would mark a significant development for the Eastern Orthodox Church and could help address a long-standing issue in Türkiye's relations with Western allies and Orthodox Christian communities.
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