Patriarch optimistic about re-opening of Heybeliada Seminary in Turkey

"As the patriarchate, we are much more optimistic about the opening of the Heybeliada Seminary," Bartholomew was quoted by news agencies as saying in a statement after meeting with Obama in Istanbul.    

Obama said in a speech to the Turkish Parliament on Monday that that any steps to improve religious freedoms and minority rights – like reopening the Heybeliada Seminary – would send an important signal inside Turkey and beyond.

The European Union has urged Turkey to open the seminary, located on an island off the coast of Istanbul and closed for almost four decades, to meet its political criteria for membership. Turkey has argued that a seminary in Istanbul would violate the country's secular order.

The state closed Heybeliada Seminary, Halki in Greek, in 1971 in a wider crackdown against religious education that also curtailed Muslim schools. Islamic theology faculties are now run by state universities.

"The Heybeli seminary is not a matter of prestige for us. Opening this school is a true necessity for our patriarchate to fulfill its religious mission," Bartholomew said in the statement.