Today's Zaman (Turkish) website reports that Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Bulent Arinc met yesterday (March 11, 2010) in his office in Istanbul with 21 leaders of Turkey's non-Muslim communities, including Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, Chief Rabbi of Turkey Ishak Haleva, Armenian Archbishop Aram Atesyan, Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Yusuf Cetin, and Simon Zazadze, who represented the Catholic Georgian Church.
At a news conference following the meeting, Arinc described Patriarch Bartholomew's demand for reopening of the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary as "appropriate and just," vowing to clear the obstacles before the reopening of the seminary as quickly as possible.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey said previous rulings of the Constitutional Court in Turkey have created restrictions on the reopening of the seminary. He added, "I should note that I and the government are determined to restart education at the Halki Seminary in line with our laws. I hope we will be able to make this possible in line with Turkey's laws before it is too late."
Established on October 1, 1844 on Halki Island -- located in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul -- the Halki Seminary was the main school of theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church's patriarchate in Istanbul until Turkish authorities closed it down in 1971.
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