PM Davutoğlu to meet with religious leaders

While the government has been continuing efforts to boost the Kurdish reconciliation process and work on an extensive reform package to tackle the decades-old problem of Alevi communities, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will come together with leaders of religious groups in Turkey. According to prime ministerial sources, Davutoğlu will meet with religious leaders on Friday, Jan. 2 at the Dolmabahçe Palace Prime Ministerial Office in Istanbul and will listen to the problems aired by religious minorities.

Turkish Chief Rabbi Isak Haleva, Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, Armenian Patriarch Archbishop Aram Atesyan, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Moran Mor Antioch Ignatius Aphrem II and other religious leaders are expected to attend the meeting. The subject of reopening the Halki Theological Seminary on Istanbul's Heybeliada and returning confiscated property of the Mor Gabriel Monastery in Mardin are also expected to be discussed by the religious leaders, among the other topics.