Turkey's refusal to reopen the country's only Greek Orthodox seminary undermines its bid to join the European Union and violates international laws on human

rights, a panel said yesterday. The Ankara government has kept the Halki Seminary, on an island off Constantinople, closed since 1971, despite calls by the EU and, more recently, US President Barack Obama who said last month during a visit to Turkey that reopening the school would show a commitment to freedom of religion and expression.

"The issue of the seminary is of the utmost importance

internally and in Turkey's foreign relations ... and must be

resolved before the EU membership process reaches an end," said Sonmez Koksal, a former ambassador and member of a panel at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate, spiritual centre for the

world's 250 million Orthodox Christians, is based in Constantinople and has no institution to train clergy. The EU, with which Turkey is negotiating membership, has said the seminary's closure is a breach of human rights and religious freedom.