KARABAKH FAITHS DECRY STATE CONTROLS
By Lusine Musaelian
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Feb 13 2009
UK
Minority religions protest over new law that puts them under
supervision of authorities.
Fears the Nagorny-Karabakh authorities are trying to restrict freedom
of worship have been raised by a new law forcing religious groups to
get approval from the authorities before they can invite colleagues
to the self-declared republic.
Officials justified the legislation, which was adopted in November last
year, by citing concerns over national security, but smaller religious
communities like the Jehovah’s Witnesses have been struggling to come
to terms with its demands.
Under the provisions of the law, religions have to ask the government’s
department for religions and national minorities for permission to
invite visitors such as foreign preachers.
"This means that the representative of a religious organisation has
to appeal to our organisation in advance and tell us, for example,
that someone is going to a seminar or a meeting. They can only invite
their guests via us," said Asot Sarkisian, head of the department.
The smaller faiths say this is unfair, since the Armenian Apostolic
Church, which counts the overwhelming majority of Karabakh’s 140,000
residents among its flock, is exempt from the legislation.
"Such measures restrict the rights of religious organisations. They
amount to state censorship," said Araik Khachatrian, a Jehovah’s
Witness.
He said the law also restricted the rights of communities to rent
halls for meetings, saying they could only do so if the government
department approved.
And other faiths have also felt oppressed by the law. Levon Sardarian,
the dean of the small Fire of Awakening church, a Christian group with
350 members that has been active in Nagorny-Karabakh for a decade,
said under the law their activities also had to be assessed by a
state official.
"The number of restrictions can rise or fall depending on how
[officials] relate to the particular organisation in question,"
said Sardarian.
Aren Baghdasarian, representative of the small Baptist Evangelical
Church, agreed.
"We live in a free, independent country. If visits by my brothers
in faith could help our work, then we must do it, and no one has the
right to interfere," he said.
Karabakh, which is an unrecognised republic ruled by Armenians,
has been largely peaceful since 1994, when a ceasefire was signed
with Baku.
But Sarkisian, of the government’s religion department, said it was
important to remember that a peace deal had still not been signed,
and that preserving national unity was important.
"We often forget that we live in a state of war. Therefore the
religious organisations have to account for the arrival and departure
of people they invite. Besides the activities of some religious
organisations have not been fully investigated," he said.
In Nagorny-Karabakh, the refusal of Jehovah’s Witnesses to serve in the
army is particularly contentious, and members of the faith have been
imprisoned for four years for their conscientious objection. Officials
see such opinions as undermining Karabakh’s de facto independence.
The Armenian Apostolic Church said it understood the state’s concerns,
and welcomed the new law’s insistence on ensuring rival faiths did
not undermine security.
"It would be wonderful if the law was working fully, and all religious
organisations trying to encroach on national security were under the
control of the state. The main aim of the promulgation of this law is
to restrict the work of those organisations, which oppose compulsory
military service," said Father Hakob Andreasian.
He said the Apostolic Church aimed to preserve the identity of the
Armenian people whereas foreign groups had no such concerns.
"Karabakh is unrecognised by the world community. However, every
religious organisation, financed from external sources, opens a
representative office in Karabakh. They exchange information, make
studies, invite guests and so on," he said.
Many residents of Karabakh have a similar viewpoint, though often
they are more liberal than the church priests.
"I am not opposed to these organisations existing in general. But
I would prefer it if they returned to the true path," said Karen
Galstian, a 28-year-old follower of the Apostolic Church.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
