Turkey fails on promise to re-open seminary, US says

Turkey fails on promise to re-open seminary, US says - Turkish Daily News Sep 22, 2008

The Turkish government has repeatedly pledged to reopen the Halki (Heybeliada) Greek Orthodox seminary in Istanbul, but has so far failed to keep its promise, a senior U.S. official has said. John Hanford, ambassador-at-large for religious freedom at the U.S. State Department said the United States had been urging and would continue to urge Turkey to reopen the theological university based on Istanbul's Heybeliada Island. "I have personally raised them with the ambassador to Turkey. Our embassy continues to urge the government of Turkey to address these issues, topermit the opening of the Halki seminary, to further expand religious freedom in general," Hanford said, speaking at a news conference late Friday for the release of the department's annual report on international religious freedoms.