Lawlessness masked as victimhood

In recent days, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin expressed his views in favor of reopening the Heybeliada Seminary, which has been closed for a long time. First and foremost, a false perception needs to be corrected. Turkey did not close the Greek Orthodox Seminary. There is neither an administrative nor a judicial decision regarding the closure of the seminary.

The Heybeliada Seminary is a theological school that trains clergy for our Turkish-citizen Orthodox compatriots. The seminary, which began instruction as an Orthodox Theological School in 1844 during the Ottoman era, continued its operations under Turkish law during the Republican era following the Treaty of Lausanne.

The claim in the global public sphere that Turkey, which allegedly closed the Heybeliada Seminary arbitrarily, is refusing to allow the school to reopen is, as we mentioned above, entirely false. To understand what lies at the root of the problem and how this false and distorted perception was created, it is time to listen to Prof. Dr. Sibel Özel in terms of objectivity, scientific rigor, historical context, and legality:

1- The Constitutional Court, with its decision dated January 12, 1971, and numbered 1969/31 E. 1971/3 K. (Official Gazette 26.03.1971 - No. 13790), ruled that private higher education institutions were unconstitutional.

2- In line with this decision, it was notified via official letters sent to private higher education institutions that they would cease to have legal existence as of July 9, 1971.

3- The HRO (Heybeliada Seminary) is a higher education institution within the scope of the 1971 Constitutional Court decision, and the school's regulations are subject to the 1965 Law on Private Educational Institutions.

4- Although a formula was developed for the HRO to resume operations by bringing it into compliance with the law following its closure under the cancellation decision, the Patriarchate did not accept these proposed solutions. This is because the Patriarchate wants to open the HRO not as an institution subject to Turkish law, but as an international theological school entirely under its own control and outside the oversight of Turkish law.

5- Article 24/3 of the Constitution, while defining secularism, stipulates that "Religious and moral education and instruction shall be conducted under the supervision and control of the state." According to this binding legal rule, religious education cannot be provided outside the supervision and control of the state (there is no distinction between Islam and other religions).

6- Article 130 of the Constitution stipulates that universities can only be established by the state. Within this framework, state or foundation universities can be established.

7- The HRO, which has a foundation legal personality, could be opened as a theology university within this scope. However, since foundation universities are also subject to the supervision of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), the Patriarchate does not accept this formula either.

When AKP Deputy Hüseyin Çelik was the Minister of National Education, he had said: “If it were up to me, I would open the Heybeliada Seminary in 24 hours.” There could be no better way to explain that for the political power, what is important and binding is not the law, but the desire and will of the political authority!

Approving the operation of a higher education institution for students coming from abroad that is outside the oversight of YÖK is contrary to equality and the unity of law. A concession in this direction would lead to the legitimization of illegal madrasa education and the establishment of private theology schools under the control of Islamic communities, one after another, that are not affiliated with YÖK. It is impossible to ignore that this situation would mean the end of the Republic of Turkey, which is a secular state of law by constitutional definition (even if it remains only on paper).

Before asking when the political power will open the Heybeliada Seminary, it is necessary to question why the Patriarchate does not accept the opening of the Heybeliada Seminary in accordance with Turkish law.

It must be understood that allowing privileges that would deeply shake the unity of law under the guise of a claim of victimhood would lead to the birth of a Vatican-style state within Turkey—one that operates in Turkey but does not recognize Turkish law and cannot be audited by Turkish law.