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Hopes are growing that the long-shuttered Halki seminary on Heybeliada, one of Istanbul's Princes' Islands, with details of its new legal status now under discussion, Bishop Aravissu Kassianos Nikolar told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The seminary, located on Heybeliada, one of the Princes' Islands, opened in the mid-19th century and served as the principal theological school for the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Its significance extends beyond religious education: the world's Orthodox community was based in Constantinople until 1453, when Ottoman forces conquered the city and renamed it Istanbul.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's 260 million Orthodox Christians, is a graduate of the school.
The seminary was closed in 1971 under a Turkish court ruling requiring all private educational institutions to come under state control, a decision the patriarchate rejected at the time to preserve the school's independence. It has remained closed for more than five decades.
The issue gained wider attention in September, when U.S. President Donald Trump raised it with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Nikolar described the current state of discussions as positive, speaking to AFP days before Trump's planned arrival in Türkiye for the July 7-8 NATO summit.
Renewed interest in the site dates to 2024, when Türkiye's Education Minister Yusuf Tekin visited and spoke of preserving the building's original character during renovation.
Tekin also conveyed a message from Erdogan that a resolution was needed. Nikolar said those talks marked the start of negotiations with Ankara, which gained further momentum after the September meeting in Washington.
The initial proposal considered reopening the seminary as a university under Türkiye's Higher Education Board (YOK).
That proposal later evolved into a plan for a two-year postgraduate theological institute affiliated with a Turkish university, with a student quota of 60 to 70.
The most recent talks in Ankara last month were attended by President Erdogan and Patriarch Bartholomew alongside Nikolar.
The AFP team observed extensive renovation work at the site, which includes the seminary, a monastery, and a high school, all of which have been long empty.
Scaffolding covered the historic building, with work reportedly aimed at meeting a September completion target set by the patriarch.
Nikolar said there is no fixed date for reopening, though President Erdogan has urged parties to resolve the matter without further delay.
The bishop said the seminary's legacy includes contributions to interfaith dialogue in addition to educating Orthodox clergy, noting its mission was to train broad-minded students.
He said the school's continued closure and its resulting inability to train clergy represent a significant loss, adding that despite the closure, demand to study there remains high.
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