The Heybeliada (Halki) Seminary was founded in 1844 to provide training for new priests who would cover the religious and spiritual needs of the Ecumenical See and Orthodox Christians around the world.

Up until 1971, the Halki Seminary came directly under the auspices of the Ministry for National Education of Turkey, and its status was governed by the Statute of the Halki Seminary, approved on 25 September 1951 by a decision of the Supreme Education Council of the Turkish Ministry of National Education.  It was approved and ratified by the Holy Synod on 5 October 1951.  Although the Seminary provided both secondary and vocational education, the Turkish authorities closed it down in 1971, on the pretext of abolishing private higher education. The term used in its own rules of procedure, however, is vocational school, providing post-secondary vocational education of a minimum one-year duration.

The issue of the re-opening of the Halki Seminary (1971-2007)

The Patriarchate demands that the Halki Seminary be re-opened under its pre-1971 status. This demand has been officially put forward on many occasions. The Patriarchate wants it to provide training to all Orthodox Christians, irrespective of nationality.  This is not only for historical reasons, but also because it would like seminary graduates to serve in its clergy.  It also wants foreign teachers to be given the opportunity to teach there, as was the case in the past. The Seminary would thus maintain its autonomy and avoid secularisation, which goes against the seminarys true nature as a theological school preparing candidates for priesthood.

Re-opening the Halki Seminary is in essence a fundamental obligation of Turkey to its own citizens, given that Turkey has clearly been violating its citizens religious rights since forcing the schools closure three decades ago, in clear infringement of a churchs right to train its own clergy, which is a violation of the Lausanne Treaty, the European Convention of Human Rights and other international texts on human and minority rights, which are binding for Turkey. The issue of the Halki Seminary is an important element of the reforms that Turkey must implement in order to improve its human rights record, within the framework of its European perspective, and is pointed out in all of the European Commissions texts (i.e Annual Progress Reports). It is expected to continue to be among the European Unions concerns within the framework of the accession negotiation process.

Last updated: 24 May 2007