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Adventurer · Joined: 28 Jan 2006

Islanders favor reopening of Halki Seminary to bring back good old daysFont Size: Larger|Smaller

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
SEVİM SONG�N
ISTANBUL � H�rriyet Daily News

Almost forty years after the closure of the Greek Orthodox Halki seminary on Heybeliada Island off Istanbul, its reopening is back on the agenda and on islanders� minds. Most island residents favor reopening the seminary with a nostalgic sense, as they believe it will bring back the good old days when the island�s non-Muslim community was larger

Tourists stroll along the coast of Heybeliada Island, home to the Greek Orthodox Halki seminary

A sense of nostalgia has been triggered on Heybeliada Island by the government�s latest efforts to find a formula to reopen the Halki seminary.

Many residents have said reopening the seminary would bring back the good old days of when the island�s non-Muslim community was larger. Many residents also have argued the island�s economy and culture would be revived.

But not all share this view. Some have voiced opposition based on political concerns, worried that the outcome might not be in Turkey�s best interest.

The Greek Orthodox Halki seminary was established Oct. 1, 1844, and operated until 1971 on Heybeliada, which is the second largest island of Istanbul�s Prince�s Islands in the Marmara Sea. It was the main theology school of the Eastern Orthodox Church's Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, but in the 1960s, before its closure, the number of its students was already low, according to island residents.

Satı Sade, an islander who remembers the seminary when it still operated, said the island would benefit from the seminary�s reopening. Sitting at a seaside teahouse with an Istanbul view, Sade said he grew up in a neighborhood heavily populated by Christian Greeks. �They always treated me kindly when I was young and most of my neighbors supported and helped me in my bad times,� Sade said. He believes if the school reopens, then the Greeks might come back to the island.

Good old days

Those who are old enough to remember when the Halki seminary was still open say there was nothing negative about the school. In contrast, most of them recall the past as the �good old days

Article

mises · Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Location: retired

Good god adventurer, just convert already. You and your syrian buddy can hold hands and chant three times "there's no place like mecca".

Adventurer · Joined: 28 Jan 2006

Leslie Cheswyck · Joined: 31 May 2003 Location: University of Western Chile

Hey, Adventurer, evey time I read one of your posts I wanna go out and buy a Coke or something.

On the other hand · Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue

Adventurer · Joined: 28 Jan 2006

[quote="Leslie Cheswyck"]Hey, Adventurer, evey time I read one of your posts I wanna go out and buy a Coke or something.[/quote

Cherry Coke? I like those old Coke commercials, especially the ones you used to see overseas. I don't drink much coke these days, but I've had a few Cherry Cokes. Occasionally, I'll have a Mr. Pibb.

On the other hand, I try to back whatever I say with facts, polls, not hatred, stereotypes. Some people just want to promote an us versus them agenda, and I think there is so much at stake out there. My old man worked for the UN and in development for many years. Like him, I think we gain by working together and understanding each other, not blowing each other up.

Happy New Year...

Leslie Cheswyck · Joined: 31 May 2003 Location: University of Western Chile

[quote="Adventurer"]

Adventurer · Joined: 28 Jan 2006

[quote="Leslie Cheswyck"]

Leslie Cheswyck · Joined: 31 May 2003 Location: University of Western Chile

14,631 terrorist attacks and counting. That's five more since my last post.

ytuque · Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Location: I drink therefore I am!

mises · Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Location: retired

ytuque · Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Location: I drink therefore I am!

mises · Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Location: retired

I don't know. Just seemed to fit.

Anyways, when will the Hagia Sophia be returned to Christendom as a sign of good will from the Turks? Will they take down that tacky Arabic writing?

Adventurer · Joined: 28 Jan 2006

The Patriarch Bartholomew is not asking for Hagia Sophia. He wants the school for training new Orthodox prelates. I don't have any information about what exactly happened to where the Greeks left at a time when some of the residents still remember them being around. I do know about a million Turks were expelled out of Greece and a million Greeks were expelled out of Turkey from areas like Izmir which was called Smyrna by the Greeks. Turkey should look into the situation of churches in the Turkish side of Cyprus and work on restoring them as a good-will gesture.

There have been complaints about that. The Hagia Sophia was once used as a church, and then a mosque, but it has not been used as a mosque since it became a museum. Frankly, I don't care if it's restored as a church or not. I am pretty sure the government is going to look into the complaints of Patriarch Bartholomew for obvious reasons, but they've taken too long to deal with the Halki issue. It's understandable that he would say that he has suffered over the issue.

Adventurer · Joined: 28 Jan 2006

PM Erdoğan asserts Turks rights in Greece in return for Halki SeminaryFont Size: Larger|Smaller

Monday, January 4, 2010
ANKARA - H�rriyet Daily News
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan confirmed ongoing efforts to re-open the Halki Seminary on Heybeliada, but added: 'The Greek government should solve problems of Turkish minority in Thrace, too.'

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in an interview with Kriter magazine confirmed that the Education Ministry has been working on approaches to re-opening the Halki Seminary on Heybeliada, one of the Princes� Islands off Istanbul.

�The seminary issue requires a multidimensional process. We need to examine it in detail for both legal regulations and the education system. The related ministers and institutions have been studying possible approaches,� said Erdoğan.

Professor Ali Bardakoğlu, director of Religious Affairs, welcomed the re-opening. �Such matters can be discussed and easily solved in scope of religious freedom,� he said.

�I see how Jewish and Christian citizens live in this country as equals like us. They are able to assign their Islamic clergy,� said Bardakoğlu.

Turkey asserts that �mutual steps� should be taken on both sides, which means Greece should introduce more freedoms to Turks living in Thrace.

�Of course, what Turkish minorities in Thrace demand from the Greek government should be considered, too,� said Erdoğan. �The Greek government should consider Turks and solve their problems related to the assignment of Islamic clergy, unemployment and the rights to establish minority associations.�

What is expected from Greece

Greece can ease tensions and contribute to a permanent solution by introducing measures that address what the Turkish minority haslong requested, for example Turks are not allowed to use the word �Turk� in naming of associations.

There are no mosques in Athens despite the large number of Turkish-Muslim communities in the city. The existing mosques from the Ottoman era are museums, and others are left unprotected.

The building of a Muslim cemetery is also forbidden in Athens, where more than 100,000 Muslims live. Instead, Muslim citizens must bury their deceased in Thrace.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=pm-erdogan-asserts-turks-rights-in-greece-in-return-to-halki-seminary-2010-01-04