Α closely watched Oval Office meeting late Thursday morning in Washington D.C. between host Donald Trump and visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan included a surprising initial reference to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Patriarchate’s long-standing request that its primary seminary, the Halki School of Theology, be allowed to reopen.

“…and based on what you have mentioned regarding the Heybeliada school, we are ready to do whatever we can that falls on our part, and I will when I get back try to discuss this issue with the esteemed Mr. Bartholomos (sic), to discuss how we can move forward on that…” was the translated comments of Erdogan’s first statement before rolling cameras.

In an immediate reply, the US president said: “The Greek Orthodox Church was here (at the White House), and they would really like to have some help, they need some help, and I said I’d mention it, and we appreciate it…”

The references to the seminary and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew begin at the 40.35 mark.

While the much-anticipated Trump-Erdogan meeting and working lunch was primed to cover what was previously billed as multi-billion-euro trade and defense contract deals, the war in Ukraine and Gaza and energy issues, Erdogan’s initial comments – via a translator next to him – said his government would broach the issue concerning the “Greek Orthodox seminary in Heybeliada,” the latter being the Turkish name of the Marmara Sea isle of Halki, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s primary seminary is located but closed since 1971.

What was implied is that the seminary issue was discussed prior to the television live coming on.
The unexpected, by Erdogan, no less, reference to Halki and the Ecumenical Patriarch, mentioned by name, comes after a visit earlier this month to the White House by Bartholomew and a delegation of hierarchs from the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, with the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America Elpidophoros also in attendance.

US President Donald Trump received the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, center, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians, at the White House earlier this month.

A 1971 law in Turkey mandated that all tertiary theological schools be affiliated with state-run universities, essentially preventing the official operation of the Halki Seminary.