Erdogan orders talks to reopen Halki Orthodox seminary near Istanbul

Tayyip Erdogan has ordered officials to resume talks on reopening the Halki Orthodox Christian seminary near Istanbul, reviving one of Turkey’s longest-running disputes with the Orthodox world. The move puts a decades-old religious-freedom issue back at the center of Turkish domestic politics and transactional diplomacy with Washington.

The seminary, also known as the Holy Theological School of Halki, sits on Heybeliada in the Princes’ Islands near Istanbul. Founded in 1844, it was the main theological school of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and trained generations of Orthodox clergy, including Patriarch Bartholomew. Turkey closed it on July 29, 1971, after a Constitutional Court ruling required private higher-education institutions to be affiliated with a state university, a condition the Patriarchate rejected.

Even with renewed political attention, reopening is not imminent. There is still no timetable, and the school’s return depends on finishing renovation work on the building complex and agreeing on a legal and educational framework that would govern its operation. Those same legal questions have blocked progress for years, keeping Halki in a state of preservation rather than revival.

The latest push gives the issue fresh diplomatic weight. Donald Trump raised Halki with Erdogan during a White House meeting in 2025, and Erdogan later said Turkey was ready to do what was needed on the school. Trump is expected to visit Ankara next month for a NATO summit, adding to the sense that the seminary has again become part of a broader bargaining table between Ankara and Washington.

Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon said the issue has entered a new phase after Erdogan instructed Turkey’s higher education authority to continue discussions with the Patriarchate’s committee. The seminary’s closure has remained a point of pressure not only with the United States, but also with Greece and the European Union, where it has long been tied to questions of minority rights and religious freedom in Turkey.

The symbolism is hard to miss. The U.S. State Department marked the 50th anniversary of the seminary’s closure in 2021, a reminder of how long the dispute has lingered. If Erdogan’s order leads to a real compromise, it would be a major gesture toward the Orthodox world. If not, it will look like another carefully timed signal designed to ease pressure abroad without resolving the legal and political obstacles at home.