Gov’t tries to figure out a way to reopen Halki

10/12/09

The Ministry of Education has been exploring ways to reopen the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary, a sensitive subject that was brought up yet again by US President Barak Obama earlier this week when he met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Washington, D.C

One way to integrate the Halki Seminary could be to structure it in two parts: a high school and an institution of higher education. If this is done, the high school would be given a “religious high school” status by the Ministry of Education. The institution of higher education would be tied to the Higher Education Board (YÖK). A second possible formula the ministry has been considering is to attach the Halki Seminary to a foundation that would be established to run it. Both of these formulae necessitate changes to the Constitution.

Turkey has plans to take steps to reopen the school according to possible steps from Greece to improve the situation of its Turkish-Muslim minority. The Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, on the other hand, is against both possible methods. To appease the patriarchate and as an intention of good will, Turkey will return the Halki Greek Orphanage to the patriarchate.

The patriarchate has long fought to open the Halki Seminary. It is also an important subject in Turkish-American relations. US President Obama requested that the government make an effort to reopen the school. Observers say Patriarch Bartholomew’s visit to the US ahead of Prime Minister Erdoğan’s visit played a role in this.

On Aug. 15, Prime Minister Erdoğan came together with leaders of Turkey’s non-Muslim communities. After this meeting, the Ministry of Education prepared a report that also takes the wishes of the Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate into consideration, making suggestions on what can be done to reopen the school.

However, the ministry believes that the Halki Seminary should not be reopened on Halki, or Heybeliada, an island off İstanbul’s Marmara coast, although that is the exact location the patriarchate would like to open the school. Sources say Prime Minister Erdoğan told Obama about legal problems that stand in the way of the Halki Seminary.
Problems with ministry suggestions

If the ministry’s first proposal — dividing the Halki school into two parts, with one being annexed to the ministry and the other to YÖK — is pursued, a change to the Law on Education should be made because under current legislation, private religious and military schools are not allowed in Turkey. If this formula is applied, the Halki school will be given the status of a religious vocational imam-hatip high school, in which case the curriculum and textbooks will be decided by the ministry. However, some legal experts believe that this has its flaws, such as opening the way for other religious groups to start their own schools.

Even if no religious group makes such a demand, legal experts say these formulae should be given a constitutional guarantee, because granting them to the Greek Orthodox community only and to no other religious minority is, in principle, a violation of equality. However, it is unlikely that any of the opposition parties will support such a change to the Constitution. Furthermore, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) does not have enough seats to pass such an amendment on its own.

There are also obstacles to annexing any institution of higher education that is to be part of the seminary to YÖK. Annexing it to a foundation is also problematic, as an earlier Constitutional Court decision which sets the precedent for such cases states that all private universities should be annexed to YÖK. The only exception to that is when institutions of higher education are opened as part of a foundation owned by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) or the Police Department.

Apart from the demands that call for amendments to the Constitution, the government will try to meet the requests of non-Muslim minority leaders — including representatives of Assyrian, Armenian, Jewish and Greek communities in Turkey — that do not require constitutional amendments.

Meanwhile, Turkey will be transferring state ownership of the Büyükada Greek Orphanage to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, which has not yet accepted either of the two possible methods to reopen the Halki school in line with a European Court of Human Rights decision.

The orphanage, known as Europe’s second-largest timber edifice, is likely to be changed into an environmental center by the patriarchate because no Greek orphans remain to be placed in the home. The building long served as a home for Greek children orphaned in World War I and later in the War of Independence.

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