FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
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Monday 27 September 2004
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: WHY CAN’T BAPTIST CHURCH FUNCTION?
Masis Mailyan, deputy foreign minister of the unrecognised enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, has insisted to Forum 18 News Service that, despite the
latest police raid on a Baptist congregation, the enclave follows the
commitments contained in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, telling Forum 18 that “there are no restrictions on believers
and all confessions are equal.” However he contradicted himself by
stating, contrary to Article 18, that, under the martial law that has
operated since 1992, only registered organisations can exist and that
Baptists “cannot hold services.” Mailyan denied that only the
Armenian Apostolic Church is allowed to function, but admitted that it is
the only registered religious community. Other local Protestants have told
Forum 18 that pressure on their work has eased in recent years and their
congregations can function quietly, so it is unclear why the Baptists have
been singled out for the authorities’ continuing hostility.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: WHY CAN’T BAPTIST CHURCH FUNCTION?
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
In the wake of the latest police raid on a Baptist church in the capital
Stepanakert, the deputy foreign minister of the unrecognised
Nagorno-Karabakh republic, Masis Mailyan, has insisted to Forum 18 News
Service that as long as martial law remains, only registered organisations
– religious or otherwise – are allowed to exist. “The
Baptist congregation has not applied for registration with the Justice
Ministry – its meetings are not sanctioned,” he told Forum 18
from Stepanakert on 27 September. “So they cannot hold services.”
He denied suggestions that only the Armenian Apostolic Church is allowed to
function in Nagorno-Karabakh, but admitted it is the only religious
community that has gained registration.
Nagorno-Karabakh has been under martial law since 1992, when bitter
conflict was raging between the local Armenian population and the
Azerbaijani government, a conflict which ended in de facto victory for the
local Armenian forces. The presidential decree imposing martial law –
renewed annually by the parliament in Stepanakert – imposes
restrictions on civil liberties, including banning the activity of
“religious sects and unregistered organisations”, banning
demonstrations and imposing media censorship.
Six police officers and one man in civilian clothes raided the prayer house
in the evening of 20 September, Baptist sources told Forum 18 on 21
September. “Without presenting any documents they immediately began
looking round the premises,” the Baptists complained. “When asked
to present a search warrant they responded that it wasn’t a search but a
look around.” The police were “especially interested” in the
literature published by the Baptist Council of Churches, seizing 32 copies
of the Russian-language Herald of Truth, including a supplement in
Armenian, 100 tracts and other publications.
The Baptists reported that after the first such raid, the police later
returned the confiscated literature, but this has not happened after either
the second or this latest raid.
Church worker Feliks Mamiev was then taken to the police station and
questioned for more than two hours. “They were basically interested in
the life of the church,” the Baptists reported. “They said that
in Nagorno-Karabakh, martial law is in force and therefore no-one apart
from the Armenian Apostolic Church has the right to conduct meetings.”
Police seized Mamiev’s passport and banned him from travelling anywhere.
Mamiev’s church in Stepanakert belongs to the International Council of
Churches of Evangelical Christians/Baptists, which rejects registration on
principle in all the post-Soviet republics where it operates.
Forum 18 was unable to reach Nagorno-Karabakh’s police chief Armen Isagulov
on 27 September to find out why the Baptists cannot meet for worship freely
and keep religious literature, but an official in his office who did not
give his name refused to discuss the police raid on the Baptist prayer
house. “No-one can answer your questions,” he told Forum 18,
before putting the phone down.
The Stepanakert Baptist congregation has faced problems in recent years.
Church member Tigran Nazaretyan was beaten up and threatened in September
last year for running a street library, and police confiscated books from
the church (see F18News 3 November 2003
). In February 2002
police raided meetings, confiscated books and deported 24-year-old Arsen
Teimurov, who had returned to his native Karabakh after becoming a Baptist
while in prison in Ukraine.
Despite the latest pressure on the Baptist congregation, Mailyan insisted
that Nagorno-Karabakh – which as an unrecognised republic cannot sign
up to international human rights agreements – abides by international
religious freedom commitments. “Religious freedom officially exists
here just as it does in other states,” he told Forum 18. “There
are commitments in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
– we follow these. There are no restrictions on believers and all
confessions are equal.”
Other Protestant churches have told Forum 18 that pressure on their work
has eased in recent years and their congregations can function quietly.
“The situation is now open and our church is growing,” one
Protestant told Forum 18 on 27 September. “Within the last month we
held a conference without problems.” It remains unclear why the
Baptist congregation has been singled out for pressure.
A printer-friendly map of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is
available at
;Rootmap=azerba
within the map titled ‘Azerbaijan’.
(END)
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