Turkey plans to allow the reopening of the historic Halki Theological School after more than five decades, Bloomberg reported in a move partly timed to please U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of his expected visit to Ankara for next month's NATO summit.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the report said students would be admitted through Turkey's national university placement system, with the Education Ministry supervising curricula at the seminary, located on an island off Istanbul.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, discussed the potential reopening with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting in Ankara on Tuesday.
The talks were held in "a cordial atmosphere," the Ecumenical Patriarchate said in a statement.
Founded in 1844, the seminary was shut by the Turkish government in 1971.
Its reopening is considered essential to the Patriarchate's ability to train future senior clergy, and Mr. Bartholomew has campaigned for years to secure it, backed by Greece, the European Union and the United States.
The timing suggests Ankara may be using the gesture as a diplomatic olive branch ahead of high-level engagement with Washington, at a moment when Turkey is seeking to repair and strengthen ties with the Trump administration.