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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Friday 12 March 2004
TURKMENISTAN: SCEPTICISM AND OPTIMISM GREET SURPRISE PRESIDENTIAL DECREE
Despite a surprise 11 March decree from President Saparmurat Niyazov
lifting the requirement that a religious community must have 500 adult
citizen members before it can register, officials have insisted that
unregistered religious activity remains illegal. Bibi Agina of the Adalat
(Justice) Ministry told Forum 18 that the decree does not mean that
unregistered religious communities can start to meet freely in private
homes. Some believers are optimistic that the decree might be a signal of a
relaxation of Turkmenistan’s harsh restrictions on religious communities –
which have seen all Protestant, Armenian Apostolic, Shia Muslim, Jewish,
Hare Krishna, Baha’i and Jehovah’s Witness communities banned. “The
authorities have tried up till now to use repressive measures and have
understood this is unsuccessful,” one Protestant told Forum 18. “They seem
now to be trying to bring religious communities under state control –
perhaps a cleverer policy.”
TURKMENISTAN: SCEPTICISM AND OPTIMISM GREET SURPRISE PRESIDENTIAL DECREE
By Igor Rotar, Forum 18 News Service, and
Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Religious believers of the many illegal faiths – including all Protestant,
Armenian Apostolic, Shia Muslim, Jewish, Hare Krishna, Baha’i and Jehovah’s
Witness communities – have been taken by surprise by an 11 March decree
from Turkmenistan’s authoritarian president Saparmurat Niyazov allowing
religious communities to gain official registration regardless of how many
members they have or what faith they belong to. Some have told Forum 18
News Service they are optimistic that conditions will improve, though
others – especially from groups that have regularly suffered fines,
beatings and threats – are sceptical. Under the country’s harsh religion
law, communities have previously needed five hundred adult citizen members
(a requirement almost impossible for religious minorities to achieve),
while since last November unregistered religious activity has been a crime.
The new decree makes no mention of decriminalising unregistered religious
activity.
Bibi Agina, an official of the department that registers social
organisations at the Adalat (Justice) Ministry, told Forum 18 that the
decree does not mean that unregistered religious communities can start to
meet freely in private homes. “As before, religious communities can only
function after they get registration,” she told Forum 18 from Ashgabad on
12 March. “The decree simply gives religious communities like the Baptists
and others the possibility to work legally.”
Officials at the government’s Gengeshi (Council) for Religious Affairs
were, as usual, reluctant to talk, putting down the phone when Forum 18
telephoned. Eventually Forum 18 managed to speak to Mukhamed (who refused
to give his last name), an aide to the deputy chairman Murad Karriyev, who
said the same as Agina that the decree does not entitle unregistered
religious communities to begin to function. “They still need registration,”
he insisted to Forum 18.
Radik Zakirov, a Protestant from Ashgabad, said his community is not
preparing to register under the new decree. But he believed it might mark a
change of policy. “The authorities have tried up till now to use repressive
measures and have understood this is unsuccessful,” he told Forum 18 on 12
March. “They seem now to be trying to bring religious communities under
state control – perhaps a cleverer policy.”
One immediate welcome for the decree came from Armenia’s Ambassador to
Turkmenistan, Aram Grigorian, who has been seeking the return to the local
Armenian community of their church in the Caspian port city of Turkmenbashi
(formerly Krasnovodsk), which was confiscated during the Soviet period.
“This is a very progressive decree,” he told Forum 18 from Ashgabad on 12
March. “We will try to make use of it.”
The government has not allowed any Armenian Apostolic churches to reopen or
open in Turkmenistan and, if they wish to attend services, Armenian
Apostolic believers are forced to go to the only legal Christian
denomination, the Russian Orthodox Church, although the Armenian Church is
of the Oriental family of Christian Churches, not the Orthodox.
Vasili Kalin, chairman of the ruling council of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in
Russia, who maintains close ties with fellow believers in Turkmenistan, was
cautiously optimistic over what he regarded as perhaps the start of a
process of improvement. “We welcome the guarantees of freedom of religion
and registration in the decree,” he told Forum 18 from St Petersburg on 12
March, “but experience teaches us to look at what happens in practice.”
Anatoly Melnik, a Jehovah’s Witness leader from Kazakhstan with contacts in
Turkmenistan, was more pessimistic over whether the decree will improve
life for their communities, believing the decree might be simply a
“propaganda measure”.
Kalin said their communities in Turkmenistan are ready to register, but
pointed out that several Jehovah’s Witnesses remain in prison for their
faith. “It would be a good gesture that Turkmenistan is ready to abide by
its international human rights commitments if these innocent people would
be freed. We hope to see that soon.” He said the new decree might be a
signal that Turkmenistan is changing “just as in the Soviet Union when the
situation changed”. He pointed out that moving from illegality in the
Soviet Union to a position where Jehovah’s Witnesses could register their
communities took time.
One Protestant, whose church has had numerous problems from the authorities
and has to meet in secret to try to evade state control, was sceptical
about whether the decree would make a lot of difference. “We know about the
decree,” the Protestant – who preferred not to be identified – told Forum
18. “But are we optimistic? Not so much.”
A Christian representative outside Turkmenistan with close links in the
country told Forum 18 that “if the decree becomes a reality, it will be
good”. The representative noted that without registration the church has
faced a number of problems, including the impossibility of acquiring
property for services.
Most sceptical were leaders of unregistered Protestant churches. Viktor
Makrousov of the Pentecostal church (who had not yet seen the decree) and
Vladimir Tolmachev of Greater Grace both separately believed the situation
is unlikely to improve on the ground. “Our main problem has not been the
500 signatures required for registration – we could achieve that,”
Tolmachev told Forum 18 from Ashgabad on 12 March. “The problem is that
people signing the registration application would get problems – they would
be sacked from their work, especially those who are ethnic Turkmens. It is
a problem of people’s safety.”
Niyazov’s decree, reported on state television on 11 March and published in
Russian on the pro-government website turkmenistan.ru, claims that the
country “carries out fully” its commitments under the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
and the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of
Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief “while securing the harmony of
the religious confessions functioning in Turkmenistan”. In reality, the
government has flagrantly violated these international commitments amid the
heaviest controls on religious life of all the former Soviet republics.
The decree – which comes into force today (12 March) – sets out three
provisions:
“1. To secure the registration on the territory of Turkmenistan of
religious organisations and groups in accordance with generally-accepted
international norms and procedures.
“2. To register on the territory of Turkmenistan according to established
procedure religious groups of citizens independently of their number, faith
and religion.
“3. The Adalat Ministry of Turkmenistan is to put into effect the current
decree from the day of its publication.”
The decree was published at the same time as a decree ordering the lifting
of exit controls on Turkmenistan’s citizens. Both this and the denial of
religious freedom have been heavily criticised by foreign governments and
human rights activists. Religious believers within the country are
generally too frightened to speak out openly against the restrictions on
their religious activity.
For more background see Forum 18’s report on the new religion law at
and Forum 18’s latest religious freedom survey at
A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
tml?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme
(END)
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