US embassy cable - 05ANKARA6316

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006316 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, TU, OSCE 
SUBJECT: TURKEY: EDUCATION COUNCIL PRESIDENT SUPPORTS 
REOPENING OF HALKI 
 
 
Classified by CDA Nancy McEldowney; reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
1. (U) Summary: Erdogan Tezic, president of Turkey's Higher 
Education Council (YOK), told Charge during an October 17 
meeting that he supports the reopening of the Halki seminary, 
and believes a solution can be found if Greece and Turkey 
discuss their respective religious minorities.  He said Halki 
should not/not be under YOK authority, but could be 
supervised by the Education Ministry.  Tezic said an exchange 
program with the State University of New York is currently 
blocked until a legal framework can be arranged.  End 
Summary. 
 
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Halki Tied to Greece-Turkey Relations 
------------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) Charge asked Tezic for his views on the possibility of 
reopening the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Halki Seminary, 
closed since 1971.  Despite the many reforms adopted by the 
GOT in recent years, Halki continues to be a symbol of 
restrictions on religious freedom. 
 
3. (U) Tezic averred that "no one is more sorry than I" for 
the decline of Turkey's Greek Orthodox population (now 
numbering fewer than 2,500).  He recalled that he studied 
both Latin and classical Greek, and has several friends who 
are former Orthodox priests. 
 
4. (U) Tezic said Halki could be reopened as a higher 
education institution under the Ministry of Education, but 
not under YOK.  The GOT would be prepared to recognize it as 
an institution offering a one-year degree, though studies 
would last three or four years (he did not explain why the 
GOT would only recognize a one-year degree).  He claimed that 
the Ecumenical Patriarch accepts this idea. 
 
5. (U) Tezic said Halki could not be placed under YOK for a 
variety of reasons.  YOK does not recognize any one-year 
institutions, nor does it oversee religious institutions.  If 
Halki were under YOK, admissions would have to be based on 
the standardized university entrance exams, which would not 
be appropriate for a seminary. 
 
6. (U) To make this arrangement work, he said, the 
Patriarchate would have to manage Halki through a foundation. 
 In this way, the Education Ministry would inspect the 
foundation, but not the Patriarchate itself.  Tezic 
acknowledged that the Patriarch opposes the idea of running 
Halki through a foundation.  (Note: Patriarchate officials 
have told us they cannot accept the idea of exercising their 
historical authority over Halki through a foundation, or 
reducing the Patriarch to a foundation board president. End 
Note.) 
 
7. (U) Before such a legal arrangement can be worked out, 
however, progress must be made on the political problems that 
serve as the foundation of the Halki issue, Tezic said.  In 
the past, Greece permitted Turkey to supply the Celal Bayar 
high school in Thrace with books and teachers, and Turkey, in 
exchange, allowed Greece to support the Greek high schools in 
Istanbul.  After the emergence of Turkish-Greek conflict in 
1955, however, both sides failed to meet their obligations. 
If these exchanges could be resumed, it would provide 
political cover for reopening Halki.  Tezic said Turkey and 
Greece need to discuss these issues bilaterally, outside of 
the EU context, and agree on reciprocal steps to remove 
restrictions on their respective religious minorities.  The 
U.S. can play a role, particularly by pressing Greece to take 
up the issue. 
 
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SUNY Exchange Program Faces Legal Hurdle 
---------------------------------------- 
 
8. (U) Charge noted that the USG places a high priority on 
education in its relations with Turkey.  The U.S. spent USD 
15 million on education programs in Turkey in the past six 
months alone.  Most of these programs are focused on 
disadvantaged families in rural areas, but some involve poor 
families in urban areas.  She noted that the USG has tripled 
the size of Turkey's Fulbright program in the past two years, 
and that the Turkey program now receives more USG funding 
than any in the world.  We want to continue these types of 
educational exchanges, and expand them whenever possible. 
 
9. (U) Charge said the exchange program between YOK and the 
State University of New York (SUNY) got off to a good start 
in 2003.  Under one part of the program, students from 
Turkey's economically depressed southeast have been placed in 
the SUNY system.  However, YOK has not been able to continue 
the scholarships necessary to maintain the program.  She 
asked what the Embassy can do to help get the program back on 
track. 
 
10. (U) Tezic described himself as a strong supporter of the 
SUNY program in general, including the initiative for the 
southeast, which he said he would try to revive.  However, 
complications over the legal/regulatory framework have 
blocked the program for the time being.  Because the program 
involves expenditures for teachers' salaries, and because it 
involves transferring funds to the U.S., he approached the 
Finance Ministry last year and asked officials there to 
establish a legal arrangement that would cover the program. 
The Finance Ministry advised him to develop a regulation, 
which he did. 
 
11. (U) However, he is unsure whether the regulation provides 
sufficient legal authority, given that there is no provision 
in Turkish law covering the types of expenditures involved in 
the program.  Tezic said a finance/tax expert is currently 
reviewing the regulation and will report to him shortly.  If 
the expert advises him that he can proceed with the program 
under the regulation, he will raise the matter next week with 
the YOK assembly and ask for their backing.  Tezic said he 
wants to avoid any possible charges of malfeasance, noting 
that police recently arrested the president of Van University 
in a case related to university expenditures.  Tezic said 
this is an internal GOT matter, and there is nothing the 
Embassy can do to help. 
 
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Comment: Fresh Approach on Halki 
-------------------------------- 
 
12. (C) There is no shortage of broad ideas for resolving the 
Halki situation; roughly once a month the press quotes a GOT 
official promising an imminent breakthrough based on a 
sketchy premise.  But these reports will be mirages as long 
as there continues to be no regular dialogue between the GOT 
and the Patriarchate (let alone between the GOT and the Greek 
Government).  Neither the GOT nor the Patriarchate can open 
the seminary unilaterally.  If there were a regular give and 
take, we would eventually learn how far the parties were 
willing to compromise, and the details of an arrangement 
could be worked out. 
 
13. (C) With Turkey's EU accession talks finally underway, we 
are looking for ways to encourage a fresh approach to this 
long-dormant issue.  We would be interested in Embassy 
Athens' and Department views on the efficacy of a coordinated 
approach to the Turkish and Greek governments.  One option is 
to pursue simultaneous action by Athens and Ankara on 
parallel tracks.  For example, we could press the GOT to 
engage the GOG in a dialogue aimed at allowing the GOT's 
Religious Affairs Directorate to open a mosque in Athens, in 
exchange for which the GOT would negotiate with the 
Patriarchate an agreement for reopening Halki.  Such an 
agreement would provide mutual cover for each party to 
compromise on a controversial issue.  Though we reject the 
idea that the rights of the two minorities are linked, both 
governments insist on linking them politically.  With this 
approach, we would be pressing them to link them in a way 
that leads to a mutual solution. 
MCELDOWNEY