To
The President of United States and
The President of The Republic of Turkey
Members of:
United Nations
European Union
U.S. House of Representatives
US Senate
cc: Churches
of all faiths
Pope John Paul II
Members of Parliaments of the world
Press
(1) We the undersigned strongly protest the continuing illegal closure of
the Orthodox Theological Seminary of Halki by the authorities of the
Republic of Turkey since 1971.
(2) We seek the immediate reopening of the Halki Seminary which is the
lifeline of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Great
Church of Christ. The Patriarchate is an invaluable part of world culture
and the Orthodox Christian religion. It is unique to civilization since it
is the most ancient office that has continued to function without interruption since the establishment of Constantinople as the center of
Orthodox Christianity.
(3) The Halki Seminary was created as the primary place of learning and
education for the Orthodox priesthood of all denominations. Its closure
constitutes a breach of Article 40 of the Lausanne Treaty and Article 24 of
the Turkish Constitution which both guarantee religious freedom and education. Their provisions are also embodied in Article 9 of the European
Convention of Human Rights and therefore the closure of the
Theological School of Halki can only be viewed as an illegal abuse of human rights and a violation of
democracy and international law.
(4) We call on all people of good will, who are interested in the ideals of
freedom, democracy and human rights to support the continuation of Orthodox Christianity in Turkey and the rest of the world by supporting the reopening of the
Halki Seminary so that it can educate the future priesthood which will allow the Ecumenical Patriarchate to continue
functioning.
Sincerely,
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