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Turkey still falls short of fully
guaranteeing religious freedoms as a European Union candidate, but it could soon
allow the reopening of the Greek Orthodox seminary in Heybeliada, Fener Greek
Patriarch Bartholomew told Reuters in an article published yesterday. “We [Greek
Orthodox believers in Turkey] have the freedom to perform all our religious
services but we have no right to administer our ecclesiastical foundations,
churches, monasteries, cemeteries, schools etc,” he said in written answers to
questions submitted by Reuters. Bartholomew expressed optimism that Turkey’s EU
membership bid should help secure the reopening of the Halki theological
seminary on Istanbul's Heybeliada Island. “Our government realizes that reasons
used in the past to justify the closing of the school were not right and not in
accordance with the European perception of religious freedom,” he argued. He
also signalled support for Turkey's bid to join the EU. “We hope that the
association of Muslims with Europeans will convince both parties that the
peaceful co-existence and co-operation are both feasible and beneficial,” he
added.
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