Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he is ready to discuss the possible reopening of the Halki Seminary, the Greek Orthodox theological school in İstanbul, following talks with US President Donald Trump in Washington, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Erdoğan made the remarks to reporters on his return flight to Turkey after attending the UN General Assembly in New York this week and meeting with Trump at the White House on Thursday.
Asked whether the seminary would reopen, Erdoğan replied, “We are ready to do whatever falls to us on this matter. When I return, I will have the opportunity to discuss it with Patriarch Bartholomew.”
The Halki Seminary, located on Heybeliada Island, was closed down in 1971 after the Turkish Parliament enacted legislation banning private institutions of higher education. Despite multiple international critiques and assurances from the Turkish government, the seminary remains closed, hampering the Greek Orthodox Church’s ability to train clergy domestically.
The ecumenical patriarch, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians who is also a graduate of the school, had himself met with Trump in September and said the seminary’s fate was among the topics they discussed.
Journalist Aslı Aydıntaşbaş welcomed Erdoğan’s remarks, calling the possible reopening “late but the right step.”
“If there is a state-funded Directorate of Religious Affairs, then our Christian citizens must also have the right to train priests. This is a matter of equality,” she wrote on X.
Heybeliada Ruhnan Okulu’nun açılmasını yıllardır destekliyorum. Geç ama doğru adım. Diyanet varsa, Hristiyan vatandaşlarımızın da papaz yetiştirme hakkı olmalı. Bu bir eşitlik meselesi! https://t.co/L8hY8EGIyl
— asli aydintasbas (@asliaydintasbas) September 25, 2025
The reopening of the seminary, a topic that has come into focus particularly during Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union since the 1990s, also resurfaced last year after President Erdoğan said in an interview published by the Greek press in May 2024 that “efforts are underway” for its revival.
Decades-long debate
The Halki Seminary, formally the Theological School of Halki, was founded in 1844 and for more than a century trained generations of Orthodox clergy, producing some 1,000 graduates.
For decades its reopening has been a key demand of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which argues that the seminary is vital both for religious freedom in Turkey and for meeting the global Orthodox Church’s need for clergy.
Advocates say reopening Halki would not only help sustain Orthodox theological education but also strengthen the patriarchate’s influence across the Orthodox world. The issue has frequently surfaced in US-Turkey relations, with Washington pressing Ankara to allow the seminary to resume its role as a major academic and spiritual center.
The situation of the seminary has also been cited in various reports on the issue, particularly in the annual country reports for Turkey prepared by the European Commission, while the US has many times asked Turkey to respect the right to freedom of religion and reopen the seminary.