Greece’s head of state on Monday reiterated Athens’ standing appeal towards the Turkish state that it lift legal obstacles preventing the re-opening of a seminal Orthodox Christian seminary in the neighboring country.
The Halki Theological Seminary was operated by the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate on the same-name Marmara Sea islet until ordered closed by Turkish authorities in 1971. The enforced closure came after the Turkish government at the time passed a controversial law mandating that all private higher educational institutions in Turkey must be affiliated with a state university, or otherwise close.
Speaking immediately after he was received by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, Greek President Provokis Pavlopoulos echoed the standing Greek position, whereby the venerable Patriarchate comprises one of modern Turkey’s strongest links with the EU and the West and should be allowed to operate freely.
Pavlopoulos, a veteran lawmaker and one-time minister who was elected president by Greece’s Parliament in 2015, exercises a ceremonial role, as per the Greek constitution.
The Greek president arrived in the Bosporus metropolis, at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to participate in a summit to commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the establishment of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).
