Signs for its reopening historical Theological School of Halki Ankara gives, with the Turkish Minister of Education returning to the issue. The Turkish Minister of Education, Yusuf Tekin, characterized as important for the international power of Turkey the reopening of the Theological School of Halki, implying that the decision will be taken by the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkish media reproduce the relevant statements of Mr. Tekin in an interview he gave to the Haberturk television network.

In this interview, the Turkish Minister of Education stated:

“The Theological School is a political matter, I cannot decide for myself. If the president asks us to prepare a study, we are responsible for submitting a report to him. I visited the Theological School, we met with the representatives. They themselves came twice. Personally, I think this is important for Turkey’s international power and I think it will be right from the point of view of democratic principles and secular state. My personal opinion. Ultimately, whatever political decision is made, we implement it. For now, we will prepare a summary on this subject from 1844, from the date of its establishment to the date of its closure. We will discuss whether or not it can reopen and whether it can be opened legally.”

The Turkish Minister of Education had made statements a few days ago regarding the reopening of the Theological School of Halki.

In an interview with the Turkish television station NTV, on June 3, he had said that actions are being taken regarding the possibility of reopening the Theological School and which actions will be taken based on the decision to be taken by those who manage Turkish foreign policy and the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He had also stated at the time that he would personally like to see “the Halki School of Theology open both from the point of view that it will reflect the democratic background that Turkey has and from the point of view of our position regarding the application of secularism.”

Halki Theological School

“What is up to us is what our president has asked us to do, when we make our decision on this issue, he has asked us to conduct research on the methods we can work with or what kind of process we can follow,” he said. on NTV Yusuf Tekin.

“Therefore, I would like to speak with this caveat. In the end, it is not me as the Minister of National Education who will decide whether it will open or not, but the Minister of Foreign Affairs, our president and the relevant committees are the ones who will make this decision and we are obliged to implement it”.

“When we look at all this, there is a decision made by the constitutional court after the March 12 coup. And in the decision of the Constitutional Court, there is no text directly related to the closure of the Theological School of Halki, there are only some interpretations that refer to Institutions of Higher Education that existed at that time, therefore that part was closed based on an interpretation, or based on the political situation of the time” explained the Minister of Education.