Turkish Authorities to Open Orthodox Seminary on Halki Island

File this under "we will see."

Moscow, March 12, Interfax - Turkish government plans to resume work of an Orthodox Theological seminary on the Island of Halki as it was closed several dozens years ago.

"Me personally and the government are determined to restart education in seminar," the Sedmitza.ru website has cited Turkish Vice Prime Minister Bülent Arınç I as saying.

As was reported in February, PACE deputies urged Turkish authorities to let Constantinople Patriarch reopen a theological school on Halki and register it as a branch of theological faculty of the Galatasaray University.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia after his meeting with Turkey's head for Religious Affairs Ali Bardakoglu in Ankara in 2009 said that "to reopen the Halki theological school would be a right step to take."

Turkish government closed the Halki theological school in the 1970-s, then it was the only seminary of the Constantinople Orthodox Church. It has not opened ever since.

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