Bilirakis Applauds Inclusion and Approval of Halki Language in HR 4347

"I am extremely pleased that H.R. 4347 has been approved by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and that Chairman Royce readily assumed into his bill the language of my resolution calling upon the Government of Turkey to facilitate the reopening of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Theological School of Halki without condition or further delay. The Theological School of Halki has been illegally shut down for over 40 years by the government of Turkey. This legislation would call on Ankara to reopen the seminary immediately and to address other longstanding concerns related to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. I look forward to H.R. 4347 reaching the House floor for final passage, and I will continue to demand the reopening of the seminary without condition or delay. Further, I will persevere in the fight for religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Holy See for nearly 300,000,000 million Christians worldwide."