April 6, 2012
Dear Brother Archons,
As you may know, President Barack Obama on March 25 in Seoul, Korea stated the following in the presence of Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan:
“I congratulated the Prime Minister on the efforts that he’s made within Turkey to protect religious minorities. I am pleased to hear of his decision to reopen the Halki Seminary.”
In the subsequent two weeks since President Obama’s remarks, statements have arisen from the government of Turkey that appear to conflict with the “decision to reopen the Halki Seminary,” and we are gravely concerned that little or no progress towards that goal has been or will be made.
Please join me in urging President Obama to continue to call for the reopening of our only School of Theology in the Holy See of Saint Andrew by sending an email or letter to the White House. To facilitate this process, you may visit the dedicated website to this issue created by the Hellenic Leadership Council and follow the instructions to send an email from your own email account:
http://www.hellenicleaders.com/OpenHalki
This website has an excellent video clip of the 60 Minutes Bob Simon interview of His All-Holiness.
In the Service of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
Anthony J. Limberakis, MD
Archon Aktouarios
National Commander
