ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians wants to reopen an Orthodox theological school that was closed in 1971 when Turkey put religious education under state control.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said he "hoped and believed" he could reach an accord with Turkish authorities over the school on Istanbul's Heybeli Island (Halki in Greek), which trained Bartholomew and many other church leaders.
"It's our right to expect this," Bartholomew said Monday.
The patriarch told Turkey's pro-Islamic Yeni Safak daily that the school never acted against Turkey's interests, as some Turkish nationalists and Islamists claimed. He also said the patriarchate's location in a predominantly Muslim country helped promote understanding between the world's two largest religions.
Bartholomew, a member of Turkey's tiny Greek community, directly controls Greek Orthodox churches in the United States and other nations.