Should Turkey re open the Halki Theological seminary

[Nikos_Rouvelas]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halki_seminary
The Halki seminary is a thousand year old Monastery and more recently Theological seminary that lies in Turkey. Should Turkey allow the seminary to be reopened? Or do they have the right to keep it closed?

[Marshal Murat]

Why was it closed in the first place? All the wiki article said was that it was forced to close because the government wouldn't allow seminaries, but I thought Turkey was secular enough to have free religious education?

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Seems the Seminary refused to become part of the secular University. Perhaps somewhat unreasonable, they could at least have agreed to be associated.

You have to realise that Turkey fears Islamification, and those same laws apply to Christian Seminaries.

[Furunculus]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halki_seminary
The Halki seminary is a thousand year old Monastery and more recently Theological seminary that lies in Turkey. Should Turkey allow the seminary to be reopened? Or do they have the right to keep it closed?

turks appreciate the legacy kemal left them, and if they insist on having state-approved religion (read: castrated) then who am i to nay-say them.

[Fragony]

Why was it closed in the first place? All the wiki article said was that it was forced to close because the government wouldn't allow seminaries, but I thought Turkey was secular enough to have free religious education?

Existing institutions can remain, but other religions can't found new ones.

As for topic, it's on Turkish soil Turkey can do as she pleases. Monastery has been closed for so long, why not make a museum out of it like the Hagia Sophia, can't set the time back 1000 years.

edit: ow! wrong monastery bad Frag. Undecided. Not going to tell Turkey what to do, their country their rules.

[KukriKhan]

and the school's library with its historic collection of books, journals, and manuscripts. The library contains over 120,000 books.

Open or closed, I hope someone is caring for the library contents.

[Nikos_Rouvelas]

Open or closed, I hope someone is caring for the library contents.

I think the monks are taking care of it.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

When someone asks if someone "should" do something it's a bit of a copout to say "they can do what they want." It would be more honest to say either you don't care or you don't have a moral stance on the subject.

According to Wikipedia it was closed because it didn't become part of the public university system, not because it was religious. A law closing private universities simply because they are private is obviously immoral.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

When someone asks if someone "should" do something it's a bit of a copout to say "they can do what they want." It would be more honest to say either you don't care or you don't have a moral stance on the subject.

According to Wikipedia it was closed because it didn't become part of the public university system, not because it was religious. A law closing private universities simply because they are private is obviously immoral.

It was because it was not secular that it was closed, in accordance with the Turkish Constitution.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Could I get a source one way or the other? Wiki says citation needed, so...

[rasoforos]

Ah politics politics politics

Firstly the Halki Theological School was operating under a 'special status' treaty signed in 1951 that had to be completely ignored so it can be closed down.

Moreover the Halki School is basically a high-school that is eligible to provide its students with 1 extra year of professional training. So it is not a University and therefore the argument that it was closed because all private universities were banned does not really stand.

However, since I do not like the Orthodox Church (Pre Ottoman empire they practically tortured and murdered their way into wiping out the greek religion closing all non christian academic institutions and temples. During Ottoman empire they kept the christian populations of the Ottoman Empire pacified for waaayy to long, excommunicated any rebelions and made a whole lot of money by being pals to the Sultan) so I believe that it is some sort of 'payback' (I would say divine justice if I was religious).

I believe that Turkey loses more by not allowing the school to run but such a human rights abuse is a drop in the Ocean in the list of abuses.

Halki serves as nothing more than a bargaining chip in Greek-Turkish political games.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Wiki says it had 3-4 Higher grades and 4-3 High School Grades.

That would make it a University of some decription, or at least a University College.

[rasoforos]

Wiki says it had 3-4 Higher grades and 4-3 High School Grades.

That would make it a University of some decription, or at least a University College.

Since high-school is 6 years and halki provides an extra year of professional training it all matches to 7.

Once again this school was the place where children who wanted to become priests (or to put it better, their parents wanted them to) went and consequently the sullabus is mostly theological studies.

It is not a university though. It does not give BSc degrees or even a Theology degree.

It does not matter though. You need to see the big picture to understand the politics behind this. The closure of Halki was only but a small part of the abuses and persecutions undertaken by the deep state that ruled Turkey at that time.

It does not matter whether Halki opens or not since, to my eyes, the Patriarchate was always a bunch of collaborators.

[Cute Wolf]

Just open it, what's wrong?

[Mouzafphaerre]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halki_seminary
The Halki seminary is a thousand year old Monastery and more recently Theological seminary that lies in Turkey. Should Turkey allow the seminary to be reopened? Or do they have the right to keep it closed?
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For an averagely sane person there is only one answer to this question: Yes! Regarding the Turkish state's policies, contrary to their own delusions, the answer should still be a yes. Simple equation there. With the seminary closed, the Orthodox community cannot train local clerics. Instead, they have to import them, mainly from Thessaloniki.

As for why it was closed, it was during the coup d'etat era under military pressure. Foreigners should keep in mind that the military is not a normal class in the Turkish society but a privileged caste.
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[Mouzafphaerre]

turks appreciate the legacy kemal left them, and if they insist on having state-approved religion (read: castrated) then who am i to nay-say them.
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Good one! :2thumbsup:
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