A1 Plus | 19:28:13 | 15-04-2004 | Sports |
CAMEROON’S FOOTBALL PLAYER RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL
On April 9 night, Armenian soccer national team’s player from Cameroon Carl
Lombe was attacked by two unidentified men and stabbed in the back with
knife.
He was rushed to a hospital with major injuries. Now, Carl has already
recovered and is released from the hospital.
A1 Plus | 21:37:58 | 14-04-2004 | Politics |
PARLIAMENT IS NOT A WEAPONS DEPOT
“Power is seized. What happened on April 13 proved Armenia to be a police
state”, MP, “Republic” Party Chair Albert Bazeyan announced.
He told how policemen and the special detachment had attacked peaceful
people. Bazeyan condemned Parliament leaders saying Parliament is not a
weapon depot to keep their arms and to use them against people.
ORGANIZERS OF OPPOSTIONAL ACTION PERSUADE POLICE TO LIQUIDATE CORDONS
BLOCKING PRESIDENTIAL RESIDENCE
YEREVAN, APRIL 12. ARMINFO. Participants of the oppositional rally who
have gathered near the presidential residence at present demand that
President Robert Kocharyan comes “out behind the barbed wire to held
an open dialogue with the people.” They also demand that Police Head
Hayk Haroutiunyan comes to the meeting and explains why the
presidential residence and the National Assembly are surrounded with
barbed wire. At present, four oppositionist MPs: Victor Dallakyan,
Gagik Kostanyan, Grigor Haroutiunyan and Smbat Ayvazyan are near the
building of the National Assembly and try to meet NA Speaker Artur
Baghdasaryan in order that the latter joins the rally participants.
However, the law-enforcers who surrounded the NA building do not allow
the MPs to enter the Parliament. The people “gave an hour” to the
authorities to fulfill these demands, otherwise, “the people will
resort to other measures,” said Secretary of the Justice bloc Victor
Dallakyan. He said that tonight the opposition leaders will visit the
country’s regions to gather their supporters and “block all the
entries to Yerevan from regions.” In his turn, Leader of the Republic
oppositional party Albert Bazeyan said that “only several meters
remain to the change of power.” Leader of the National Unity party
Artashes Geghamyan asked the policemen to open the cordons adding that
their “names will be added to the history of Armenia with gold
letters.”
It should be noted that representatives of the RPA faction, the United
Labor party and the “National Deputy” deputy group follow the action
sitting on the grass in the territory of the NA.
Armenian president downplays opposition calls for power change
Arminfo
8 Apr 04
YEREVAN
Calls for violence are very dangerous on their own, Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan told Armenian Public TV today.
These calls are dangerous for the opposition in the first place,
Kocharyan said. This might boomerang not only against society, but
against individuals in the opposition as well. “I received more than a
million votes in the last presidential elections, and most of the
citizens who voted for me are my active supporters. That is why one
can understand their indignation at people without a political
biography who can make statements urging to break the authorities’
backbone or shed their blood,” Kocharyan said.
He has received many telephone calls from his supporters who asked to
organize rallies and demonstrate to the opposition the number of their
opponents. In addition, the aforesaid concerns not the entire
opposition, but only that part of it which is currently called an
aggressive political minority, Kocharyan said. He rejected these
proposals because he regarded as incorrect setting one part of the
nation against another part. “In this case my motto is the following –
I was elected to deal with the people’s problems, but people should
not deal with my problems,” Kocharyan said.
He added that the people had in the first place given him a mandate to
solve their problems and establish law and order in the country. But
he does not have to call on one part of the nation to observe order
with the help of the other part, which will be the worst scenario in
the current situation. “I would also like to use this opportunity to
appeal to my supporters and ask them to show restraint and ignore any
provocation and be confident that the authorities have sufficient
resources to curb political extremism in line with the law,” Kocharyan
said.
According to Kocharyan, he has an impression that the current tension
in the country can be explained with kind of competition in the
country’s opposition camp which urged every opposition leader to take
a more opposite and even uncompromising stance and be more aggressive
in order to attract part of voters and find out who is “the opposition
leader of all Armenians”. The struggle here is not so much against
Robert Kocharyan’s personality. Robert Kocharyan is a target, and
firing at him, the opposition sorts out relations within itself. The
sooner the opposition decides who precisely in its ranks is “the
opposition leader of all Armenians”, the sooner both the opposition
and the political situation in the country will calm down, Kocharyan
said.
ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
April 8, 2004 Thursday
Cultural exchanges in CIS space bring peoples closer
By Galina Gridneva, Valery Zhukov
DUSHANBE
The restoration of the tradition of cultural exchanges in the expanse
of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) promotes spiritual
enrichment and rapprochement of peoples, holds Mikhail Shvydkoi, the
chief of the Russian Culture and Cinematography Agency.
Russian culture days that began in Dushanbe on Thursday sum up the
results of the work over the past 12 years to preserve cultural unity
of ex-USSR republics, Shvydkoi told Tass in the Tajik capital on
Thursday.
“Russia has preserved normal working friendly relations with cultural
figures of virtually all Commonwealth countries,” Shvydkoi said. He
sited the examples of Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and a number of
other countries.
“A favourable cultural climate for us has been created in Azerbaijan
and Armenia,” he said. “Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili made a
request to Russian leaders for Russian culture days in Georgia,”
Shvydkoi said. “We plan to hold these days in the second half of the
year”.
Shvydkoi said Russia has retained high quality artistic school. “It
is not accidental that most leaders of culture of ex-USSR countries
had been educated in the best establishments in Moscow and other
Russian cities. We will continue the tradition for training
specialists in our higher educational establishments,” he said. There
are plans for the exchange of creative collectives and art
exhibitions.
Shvydkoi believes Russian pedagogues will be needed in Tajikistan
where a conservatory and a ballet school opened last year. Following
the talks with the leaders of Tajikistan’s Culture Ministry it is
planned to sign the agreement on cultural cooperation up to 2006,
Shvydkoi said.
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
APRIL 2-8, 2004
HIGHLIGHTS:
EGG-THROWERS AND/OR CAMERA-BREAKERS
YPC LATEST PUBLICATION
“CIVIL SOCIETY IN CONTEXT OF DEMOCRATIC REFORM” WORKSHOP HELD
RALLY IN “A1+” SUPPORT WAS EXCESS-FREE
EGG-THROWERS AND/OR CAMERA-BREAKERS
On April 5, during the meeting of “National Unity” opposition party leaders
with the voters, organized in one of Yerevan downtown streets, young people
of strong build and boxer cut started to throw eggs at the orator and those
assembled. In some spots, objects of petard type exploded at people’s feet.
The journalists covering the meeting tried to record the incident, however,
they were attacked immediately: the “strong guys”, divided in groups,
started to use violence against media representatives and to shatter their
equipment.
As a result, physical, material and moral damage was caused to the media and
journalists. Cameras of “Kentron”, “Hay TV” private channels and Public
Television of Armenia newscasts were broken, similarly to the one by
cameraman of “National Unity” party. A cameraman of another private TV
company, “Shant”, had the incident video record snatched away.
Photocorrespondent of “Hetq” online of Association of Investigative
Journalists of Armenia, UK citizen Onik Grigorian, “Aravot” daily
correspondent Anna Israelian and “Haikakan Zhamanak” daily correspondent
Hayk Gevorgian were exposed to attacks and blows. All the three had their
photo cameras crashed. The 17-year-old resident of Aghartsin village, Armen
Tamrazyan, attempting to protect the journalists, was seriously injured.
Earlier on April 5, “Haikakan Zhamanak” correspondent was hampered in his
professional activity. Hayk Gevorgian was detained in the town of Ashtarak
during the photo shooting on the highway leading to Yerevan and blocked by
the police. According to the journalist, an hour-long “instructive
conversation” on legal issues was conducted with him at local police
department.
The rally in the capital was heavily guarded by the police. According to the
eyewitnesses, their administration, in particular Deputy Head of RA Police
Hovhannes Varian were also present. However, none of the guards interfered
in the incident with the journalists.
On April 6, Head of Yerevan Police Department Nerses Nazarian declared at
the briefing devoted to April 5 events that the police forces were ordered
to step in only in case of emergency. Given Colonel Nazarian’s refusal to
answer the questions, it was impossible to find out whether the acts of
violence towards journalists might be viewed as “emergency”? Meanwhile,
Yerevan Police Head asserted that materials on the incident were in
preparation stage.
We earnestly hope that this time at least law and order bodies will be able
to finally track and punish the perpetrators. For the exception of the
disclosed murder of the Chairman of the Council of Public TV and Radio
Company, Tigran Naghdalian, all the rest numerous acts of violence towards
the journalists still “hang in the air”. Only a single circumstance, too
obvious by itself, gives a week chance for hoping that those guilty of April
5 incident will nevertheless be punished. The evening broadcasts of
“Kentron” TV repeatedly showed the scene of the “strong guys” dealing with
one of the cameramen. Several photos of the attackers were also published by
a number of newspapers. According to various opinions,
egg-throwers/camera-breakers are bodyguards of high rank officials and
oligarchs.
The statement of “Hetq” photocorrespondent Onik Grigorian, a victim of the
incident, in particular expresses indignation at the coverage of the events
by Public Television of Armenia placing “all blame on the opposition” and
the police that kept out. After a blow in his face, the journalist “turned
to the police for help but they did not care to interfere”.
Armenian political forces, NGOs, including human rights and journalistic
ones, as well as international organizations publicly condemned the
incident.
On April 6 upon the initiative of Yerevan Press Club, the participants of
“Civil Society in the Context of Democratic Reform in Armenia” workshop,
organized by “Partnership for Open Society” initiative (currently uniting 40
NGOs) adopted a joint statement.
The statement of the NGOs and journalists runs:
“On April 5, 2004 prior to the Yerevan meeting of “National Unity” party
leaders with the voters, the police impeded journalists’ activity on the
highways connecting the regions with the capital. During the rally,
authorities obviously connived at the violence applied: the journalists were
exposed to beating, photo and video cameras were broken, films and tapes
were confiscated and destroyed. Both hampering journalists’ work and
violence towards them fall under criminal offence.
Overt bias of certain media, even those who fell victim to the incident, in
covering the events is also to be blamed.
We, participants of the workshop, organized by “Partnership for Open
Society” initiative, strongly condemn one more instance of regular
violation of the rights for receiving and disseminating information, as well
as freedom of expression. We call upon law and order bodies to punish the
instigators and perpetrators.
We declare that if in this case as well the culprits, several of them being
known, are not punished and the damage to the media is not compensated, we
will have to state that Armenian authorities are not interested in
consolidating the basic democratic values in the country: the rights for
freedom of expression, press, travel, conducting meetings and rallies,
exchanging opinions and the right of the society for getting objective
information.
We call on all the media, irrespective of their political preferences, to
demonstrate professional unity and to rise against the cases of violation of
freedom of expression through joint efforts.”
YPC LATEST PUBLICATION
On April 8, presentation of “The Right to Tell. Role of Mass Media in
Economic Development” new book of Yerevan Press Club was held at Journalists
Union of Armenia. The book came out as part of “Journalist’s Library”
series. The publication is an English-Armenian translation of the homonymous
collection of articles by world economists and journalists. Financial
support for the translation and publication of the YPC book was provided by
World Bank and Open Society Institute.
During his speech at the presentation, Roger Robinson, World Bank Country
Manager in Armenia, particularly noted, “World Bank is interested in
economic development of the countries and attaches special importance to the
role of media in this process. ‘The Right to Tell’ is designed as assistance
to the journalists in covering economic problems”.
“CIVIL SOCIETY IN CONTEXT OF DEMOCRATIC REFORM” WORKSHOP HELD
On April 6, “Civil Society in the Context of Democratic Reform in Armenia:
Agenda, Accomplishments, Failures” was held. It was organized by
“Partnership for Open Society” initiative uniting over 40 NGOs. RA National
Assembly deputies, scientists, representatives of NGOs and media of Armenia,
international organizations participated in the meeting.
The participants discussed a wide spectrum of issues related to
implementation of democratic reforms in the country: “Civil Society and the
State” (presentation by Tigran Torosyan, RA National Assembly
Vice-Chairman), “The Role of the Donors and International Agencies in
Formulating the Agenda of Civil Society in Armenia” (presentation by Dr.
Lucig Danielian, School of Political Science and International Affairs
Associate Dean of American University of Armenia), “Institutes of Civil
Society” (presentation by Dr. Gevorg Poghosyan, Director of Philosophy and
Law Institute).
In the second part of the workshop, the discussion continued in five
sections: “Media/Information”, “Human Rights”, “Rule of Law/Good Governance”
(RA Minister of Justice David Harutyunyan participated in this section),
“Social Cooperation”, “Education/Culture”.
RALLY IN “A1+” SUPPORT WAS EXCESS-FREE
On April 2, a procession and rally in support of freedom of expression were
held in Yerevan. They were timed to the two-year period of “A1+” without
air.
Certain obstacles, created by the authorities to impede the initiators of
this protest action, resulted in a change of the procession route and the
venue for the rally (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, March 26 – April 1, 2004).
The event itself, with 400 people participating, was excess-free. At the
meeting close to the museum of ancient manuscripts – Matenadaran – the
organizers publicized their claims to the Armenian authorities: to conduct a
competition for vacant frequencies and to involve NGO representatives in the
process of rating assessments of the bidders’ competition packages.
When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.
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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
____________________________________________
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
375007, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 1) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 1) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site:
PRESS RELEASE
Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School
Noah’s Ark Library
1615 N. Alexandria Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Contact: Sarig Armenian
Tel: 323-668-1877
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website:
Noah’s Ark: Open For Reading and Studying
Los Angeles, CA — This week, the highly anticipated opening of the
Rose and Alex Pilibos Noah’s Ark Library will take place, when the
facility opens its doors to students, faculty and staff. On Tuesday,
April 14, 2004, each home-room class will visit the school library for a
short introduction to the learning services, stunning physical
structure, and world of information available at the school library.
During the introductory session, each student will be asked to read
aloud and sign a pledge to abide by the rules of the library and to use
the library books and equipment with care. By the end of the week, when
all classes have attended the introductory session, the library will be
open throughout the day for classroom visits, during lunch and recess,
as well as before and after school for students to borrow books, read
periodicals, and research on the Internet.
“This library is an exciting new development for both our students and
the school community,” stated Viken Yacoubian, principal of the Rose and
Alex Pilibos Armenian School. “After more than a year of planning and
construction, the students and faculty will have access to a
state-of-the-art library that will enhance the curriculum and expand the
educational resources at our school. Numerous studies have shown that
student performance and achievement are directly linked to a strong
school library; this is why providing a bilingual technologically
advanced library has been a priority for our students.”
Today, school libraries provide information and ideas that are
fundamental to functioning successfully in today’s information and
knowledge-based society. The Noah’s Ark School library will help develop
imagination and life-long learning skills in order to guide students
towards becoming responsible and active members of the Armenian-American
community.
With an enrollment of over 750 students from kindergarten through 12th
grade, the Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School is the first school in
the Armenian Diaspora to have a library with an electronic catalogue of
Armenian and English books as well as a dynamic architectural space for
students to read, write, think, and learn.
###
PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian
April 5, 2004
EASTER MESSAGE FROM ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN CHOLOYAN: WITNESS TO RESURRECTION
This Jesus God raised up, and of that
we all are witnesses. (Acts 2:32)
The miraculous resurrection of Jesus transformed the disciples weakness and
uncertainty into strength and absolute confidence. Christ’s unprecedented
resurrection, unexplainable to the human mind, is comprehended only through
faith. The resurrection became a supernatural and miraculous power for the
modest fishermen, and gave the fearful disciples unshakeable confidence
which led them to bear witness to Christ’s resurrection and apostleship,
gave them the strength to withstand innumerable and unbearable tortures, and
to ignore death in the face of death, just like their teacher.
“We all are witnesses.”
WITNESS TO NEW LIFE: Not a second life, but a new life. A new life that is
felt in a believer’s soul, and who, renewed with Christ, becomes a new
person. “You have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on
the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its
creator.” (Col. 3:9-10). The days of the old life remain the same as the sum
of days, but they become new in content and purpose. In the end, in lieu of
the destruction of death, we gain resurrected everlasting life. Exactly
because of this, the Apostle Paul has said: “For me living is Christ, and
dying is gain.” (Philippians 1:21). The giver of new life is Christ. New
life is possible through Him and with Him.
WITNESS TO TRUTH: We know very well that there is one absolute truth in
everything. Circumstantial correctness is born from cohesive events and does
not last. We confess to that supreme truth and bear witness to it, to that
faith that Christ gave us by becoming the Son of Man, by His Incarnation,
and by His redemptive mission. Christ’s preaching and message were not
ethereal mind games, but real security and truth, which were tested on the
touch-stone by His resurrection. It was the resurrection that prodded His
disciples to bear testimony to His word and life, and His truth.
WITNESS TO THE HAPPINESS OF RESURRECTION: As creatures of the earth, our
desire is to fill our days with happiness. In our relationships with people
at home or work, or during our restful periods, it is our wish that the
entire time passes joyfully bringing us happiness. But, that blissful state
remains a dream because in family relationships-between husband and wife,
parent and child, sister and brother-there are misunderstandings and
dissensions, temptations and transgressions that bring about quarrels
resulting in uneasy and intolerable situations. In a word, the dissipation
of happiness. In the factory or the office there are many different
circumstances that create unease-competition, jealousy, and greed. We lose
our patience, become anxious as we see the distancing of happiness in our
hearts. Our own rest is disturbed because of our or a friend’s illness,
accident, or sudden and untimely death. All of this saddens us. In our
hopelessness we think that all is ended. But when our days on earth are
blessed with Christian faith and hope, and our life’s journey is towards
Christ and not the world and worldliness, then and only then can we struggle
against sorrow and pain and accept unfading happiness that the resurrection
of Christ gave us. The joy of the resurrection joins us to Christ, and no
external factor can obscure that happiness. It is true that it is very
difficult to attain that happiness. Think of the apostles and the saints,
the martyrs and the witnesses, who did not want to give up their eternal
happiness for worldly and fleeting happiness. They were spiritually
strengthened. They withstood physically and inherited the life that they
received by their witness to their faith. In place of the honor given by hum
ans, they accepted the crown of glory given by Christ.
During this season of Christ’s resurrection, as faithful believers, we view
the apostles, who became witnesses to His resurrection, with special
awareness. With the resurrection they accepted and lived a new life. They
were witnesses to that new life, accepted and preached the truth and served
as witnesses to the truth. And in spite of suffering and death, they turned
witnesses to the happiness that is promised to all faithful Christians.
As children of the Armenian Church and nation, we saw through experience
that our nation’s strength and survival is our faith. The model lives of
Christ and His apostles became an example for our centuries of struggle,
which by irrefutable truth and moral principles became the anchor and
fortress of our everlasting life. From sorrow to happiness. From death to
resurrection.
Christ is risen. Blessed is the resurrection of Christ.
ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN
Prelate
Armenian Apostolic Church of America
Eastern United States of America
April, 2004
The Star, Malaysia
April 2 2004
Book Review:
Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work
Author: Hayden Herrera
Publisher: Bloomsbury
BORN in Turkey around 1900, Vosdanik Adoian escaped the massacres of
Armenians in 1915 only to watch his mother die of starvation and his
family scatter in their flight from the Turks.
Arriving in America in 1920, Adoian invented the pseudonym Arshile
Gorky and obliterated his past.
Claiming to be a distant cousin of the novelist Maxim Gorky, he found
work as an art teacher in Boston, then New York, and undertook a
programme of rigorous study, schooling himself in the modern painters
he most admired, especially Cezanne and Picasso.
By the 1940s, Gorky had developed a style that is seen as the link
between European modernism and American abstract expressionism. His
masterpieces influenced the great generations of American painters
who came of age after World War II, even as Gorky faced a series of
personal catastrophes: a studio fire that destroyed dozens of his
paintings, a wasting battle with cancer, and a car accident that
temporarily paralysed his painting arm. Further demoralised by the
dissolution of his seven-year marriage, Gorky hanged himself in 1948.
Hayden Herrera is the author of Mary Frank, Matisse: A Portrait and
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo. She lives and works in New York.
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
=================================================
Thursday 1 April 2004
TURKMENISTAN: RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES THEORETICALLY PERMITTED, BUT ATTACKED
IN PRACTICE?
Despite Turkmenistan now theoretically allowing minority religious
communities to get state registration, Forum 18 News Service has learnt
that in practice attacks have been renewed against the Jehovah’s Witness
and Baha’i minority communities. President Saparmurat Niyazov announced the
changes on 11 March, the same day that a Jehovah’s Witness was arrested and
pressured by officials, including a Mullah, to renounce his faith and then
fired from his job. There have also been at least three raids on Jehovah’s
Witnesses in the capital Ashgabad and reported raids in other towns. Also,
a Baha’i has had his home raided and been pressured to renounce his faith.
Believers from the country’s banned minority faiths – including Catholics,
a variety of Protestant groups, Shia Muslims, Jews, Adventists, Pentecostal
and Armenian Apostolic Christians, Hare Krishna devotees, Jehovah’s
Witnesses and Baha’i – are unsure whether it is apply for state
registration. Although some Protestants are optimistic about the situation
improving, the NSM secret police told an arrested Baha’i that the new law
“applies only to Sunni Islam and the Orthodox Church, while such dubious
groups as yours will be thoroughly checked out with the aim of preventing
any possible conflicts.” And on 29 March President Niyazov banned Muslims
from registering new mosques.
TURKMENISTAN: RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES THEORETICALLY PERMITTED, BUT ATTACKED
IN PRACTICE?
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Despite the new religion law allowing minority religious communities to
register – at least in theory – for the first time since 1997, Forum 18
News Service has learnt that pressure has been renewed on some minority
communities. Since President Saparmurat Niyazov heralded the legal changes
in an 11 March decree, the home of a Baha’i in the town of Balkanabad
(formerly Nebit-dag [Nebitdag]) was raided and he was pressured to renounce
his faith, while there have been at least three raids on Jehovah’s
Witnesses in the capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat] and reported raids in other
towns. “Officials are quite nervous at the moment,” believers in Ashgabad
told Forum 18, “as they react to international pressure.” However, the
latest raids indicate that even senior officials are continuing to pressure
members of some communities, with the Baha’i and one of the Jehovah’s
Witnesses even pressured to renounce their faith. The Jehovah’s Witnesses
complain of a “new wave” of persecution against them. “The attitude to our
work has not changed,” one told Forum 18.
Believers from the country’s banned minority faiths – including Catholic,
Protestant (including Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal, Adventist and New
Apostolic), Shia Muslim, Jewish, Armenian Apostolic, Hare Krishna,
Jehovah’s Witness and Baha’i communities – are divided as to whether it is
safe to apply for registration with the Adalat (Fairness or Justice)
Ministry. Some have sought information about how to apply and are preparing
to lodge applications, while others remain suspicious that putting
signatures to applications will only open up the signatories to
persecution. On 29 March President Niyazov appeared to rule out Muslims
from registering any new mosques under the new religion law (see F18News 30
March 2004 ).
Despite the raids on the Baha’i and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, an Ashgabad
Protestant Radik Zakirov told Forum 18 on 1 April that he is not aware of
any Protestant Christian churches that have suffered raids or fines since
members of an unregistered Baptist congregation in Balkanabad were fined in
January in the wake of a raid last November (see F18News 9 January 2004
). Unregistered Baptists
in Moscow, who retain close links with their communities in Turkmenistan,
told Forum 18 on 1 April that these fines and the confiscation of property
in lieu of a fine from a Baptist family in Turkmenbashi [Türkmenbashy] in
January (see F18News 26 February 2004
) are the most recent
incidents. “We have not learned of any problems since then.”
Jehovah’s Witness representatives in Russia, who maintain close contacts
with their communities in Turkmenistan, have told Forum 18 that “there is
no realistic chance” of getting registration. “There has been no real
change,” one Jehovah’s Witness told Forum 18 on 1 April. “Until our
prisoners are freed and until we can meet undisturbed there won’t be any
serious attempt to change.”
On 11 March – the same day the president issued his decree – a Jehovah’s
Witness in Ashgabad was taken to the government’s Gengeshi (Council) for
Religious Affairs, where seven officials – including a mullah – pressured
him to renounce his faith. It remains unclear if the mullah was either the
Gengeshi’s chairman, Yagshymyrat Atamyradov, or the deputy chairman,
Kakageldy Vepaev (who is also the government-appointed chief mufti of
Turkmenistan). That same day, after refusing to renounce his faith, the man
was fired from his job, leaving his family with no breadwinner.
Reached at the Gengeshi on 1 April, Muhamed Resulov – who gave his position
as assistant to the deputy chairman Andrei Sapunov, who is a Russian
Orthodox priest – declined to discuss this case – or indeed anything else –
with Forum 18.
On 13 March, more than twenty Jehovah’s Witnesses, including women and
children, were interrogated by National Security Ministry officers after
being detained for meeting in a private flat in Ashgabad (see F18News 23
March 2004 ).
On 18 March, Jehovah’s Witness sources told Forum 18, police visited the
home of another Jehovah’s Witness in Ashgabad, claiming that he had not
paid his most recent fine imposed for conducting unregistered religious
activity. “This is not true – he had paid,” sources told Forum 18, “but
without any court hearing they insisted he pay 250,000 manats [350
Norwegian Kroner, 41 Euros, or 51 US dollars]. He had to pay again.” The
man is believed to have been fined up to ten times in the past few years
for his religious activity. The average monthly salary is estimated to be
less than 30 US dollars a month.
The Jehovah’s Witness sources declined to name their members targeted in
the three Ashgabad raids for fear of making their situation worse. The
raids came in the wake of a 9 March incident in Ashgabad when a female
Jehovah’s Witness was taken to the police station, had her Bible and other
literature confiscated and she was threatened with rape. The Jehovah’s
Witnesses said there had been raids in other towns since the 11 March
decree. “No-one mentioned to our people the new law during the raids, or
the possibility to register,” the Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18. “We
expected that they would have mentioned this.”
On 24 March, local officers of the National Security Ministry (NSM) secret
police raided the home of a Baha’i, Rahman S. (full name unknown), in the
town of Balkanabad. The exiled human rights group the Turkmenistan Helsinki
Initiative reported that the officers confiscated religious literature and
other materials belonging to the local Baha’i community. The officers
demanded that Rahman renounce his faith which, they complained, “provokes
schism in our democratic society” and threatened to have his home
confiscated from him.
“I thought that with the signing of the new decree on religious freedoms,
our situation would improve,” Rahman was quoted as stating, “but nothing
has changed.” He complained that Balkanabad’s Baha’i community has not been
able to function legally since 1997 as it had not been able to gather the
signatures of 500 adult citizen members required until the change in the
law in March of this year. Rahman tried to tell the NSM officers of the new
law, but they reportedly responded: “This applies only to Sunni Islam and
the Orthodox Church, while such dubious groups as yours will be thoroughly
checked out with the aim of preventing any possible conflicts.”
The Turkmenistan Helsinki Initiative reported that the Balkanabad Baha’is
have in recent years suffered numerous police raids on meetings in private
homes, while members have been detained, sacked from their jobs and
fined.
However, Zakirov, a member of a non-denominational Protestant church in
Ashgabad, said he was “very optimistic” that the situation for believers
would change for the better. “The government has responded quickly to
international pressure,” he told Forum 18. “This shows they have learnt.”
He said his church is not intending to register under the new law. “We do
not consider it necessary.” After explaining to officials that they are
merely a “circle of friends” and not an organisation with a hierarchy, he
said they understand. “They know our community inside out anyway, they know
who all our members are,” Zakirov declared. “They know we’re not
dangerous.”
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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