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The Orthodox Christian News Service

CONSTANTINOPLE, Turkey Jan 30 (Associated Press)- Greece's minister for education and religion on Sunday said she hoped Turkey would allow the reopening of a key Greek Orthodox theology school before October, when mainly Muslim Turkey starts membership negotiations with the European Union, a news agency reported.

Marietta Giannakou attended a liturgy Sunday at the Constantinople-based Ecumenical Patriarchate, the seat of the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians. She later participated in celebrations for the 550th anniversary of a minority Greek high school with Turkish Education Minister Huseyin Celik.

The visit comes as Greece and the United States lobby Turkish authorities to reopen the Halki Theological School, on an island near Istanbul, which was closed in 1971 under a law that put religious education under state control.

Asked if she believed the school could be opened before October, Giannakou told reporters: "I hope so," the Anatolia news agency reported.

"The Turkish government has made a promise and I'm sure it will fulfill it. I'm also aware there are some difficulties," she was quoted as saying.

Turkey is set to open membership talks with the EU in October, but is under pressure to press forward with democratic reforms, such as expanding the rights of minorities, including Greeks.

The government has expressed support for reopening the school, but Orthodox officials have said little progress has been made.

The Halki school trained generations of church leaders, including Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and Orthodox officials say the school's reopening is important for educating future leaders.

Istanbul, once Constantinople, the capital of the Orthodox Greek Byzantine Empire, was captured by the Muslim Ottoman Turks in 1453. Constantinople's Greek population has dwindled to less than 3,000 in recent years, but the Ecumenical Patriarchate remains in the city.

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