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F18News: Turkmenistan - Religious freedom survey, August 2008

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  • F18News: Turkmenistan - Religious freedom survey, August 2008

    FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
    http://www.forum18.org/

    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

    ========================================== ======
    Tuesday 5 August 2008
    TURKMENISTAN: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SURVEY, AUGUST 2008

    In its survey analysis of religious freedom in Turkmenistan, Forum 18 News
    Service has found continuing violations by the state of freedom of thought,
    conscience and belief. Unregistered religious activity continues - in
    defiance of international human rights agreements - to be attacked. The
    government tries to control the extremely limited religious activity it
    permits, which often does not - even for registered religious groups -
    include the right to worship. Promises to respect human rights after the
    accession of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov have not stopped the
    state's continuing actions to deny freedom of thought, conscience and
    belief to peaceful Turkmen citizens of all faiths, including Muslims,
    Russian Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses,
    Catholics, Hare Krishna devotees and Baha'is. Officials appear to have no
    expectation that they will be held accountable for violating fundamental
    human rights such as religious freedom.

    TURKMENISTAN: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SURVEY, AUGUST 2008

    By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>

    Ahead of the Universal Periodic Review of Turkmenistan by the United
    Nations (UN) Human Rights Council in December 2008, Forum 18 News Service
    has found continuing violations by the state of people's freedom of
    thought, conscience and belief.

    The religious activity of people of all faiths in Turkmenistan is highly
    restricted. State officials frequently violate international human rights
    standards on freedom of thought, conscience and belief - which the country
    has freely signed. Religious communities are raided and their members
    threatened and assaulted. The government tries to control the extremely
    limited legal religious activity it permits, which often does not - even
    for registered religious groups - include the right to worship. All
    unregistered religious activity remains banned and the government actively
    tries to suppress such activity along with its attacks on registered
    activity. Religious believers and communities also suffer from the general
    denial of rights to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of
    expression and freedom of movement that affect all residents of
    Turkmenistan.

    Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov took over as president in the wake of the
    December 2006 death of his predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov. President
    Berdymukhamedov has downgraded his predecessor's personality cult, but has
    mostly continued other internal policies, including tight control of
    society and its isolation from other societies. It has been noted within
    Turkmenistan that state officials have a continuing interest in maintaining
    the system of repression and control developed under Niyazov. Most of the
    population of some 5 million would identify themselves as Muslim by
    tradition. Poverty is widespread.

    Human rights violations have even taken place during separate visits to
    Turkmenistan by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Director
    of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the
    Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Turkmen
    officials appear to think that promises to respect fundamental human rights
    need not have any impact on official actions.

    State controls on religious believers and communities

    Article 11 of Turkmenistan's Constitution states: "The state shall
    guarantee the freedom of religions and confessions and their equality
    before the law. Religious organisations shall be separate from the state
    and may not fulfil state functions. The state education system shall be
    separate from religious organisations and shall be of a secular nature.
    Everyone shall have the right independently to define his attitude toward
    religion, to profess any religion or not profess any either individually or
    jointly with others, to profess and disseminate beliefs associated with his
    attitude to religion, and to participate in the practice of religious
    cults, rituals, and rites."

    However, in defiance of these constitutional guarantees all religious
    activity is tightly controlled and restricted by the state. The Sunni
    Muftiate (Muslim Spiritual Administration) - the only form of Islam
    permitted - is under tight government control. The government's Gengeshi
    (Committee) for Religious Affairs names the Chief Mufti (who is also a
    Gengeshi Deputy Chair) and imams at least down to regional level. All
    Muslim and Russian Orthodox clergy are appointed by the Gengeshi.

    Successive Chief Muftis were removed from office by former President
    Niyazov and one, Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah, was imprisoned on unclarified
    charges from 2004-7. Devout Muslims expressed concern about the state's
    replacement of imams who had formal Islamic theological education by those
    who had never had theological education. Officials have stated that imams
    cannot be appointed if they have trained outside Turkmenistan. Muslims have
    told Forum 18 that they believe that the authorities' removal from office
    of ethnic Uzbek minority imams in the northern Dashoguz [Dashhowuz] Region,
    and their replacement with ethnic Turkmen imams, was racially motivated.

    Impact of official racial discrimination

    Although the government allows Sunni Islam to operate (within tightly
    controlled limits), this is not the case for Shia Islam, which is mainly
    professed by the ethnic Azeri and Iranian minorities in the west of the
    country who are traditionally more devout than ethnic Turkmens. Such
    official intolerance of Shia Islam may be linked to former President
    Niyazov's racially-motivated policy of promoting an ethnically homogenous
    Turkmen-speaking, ethnic Turkmen cultural national identity of which Sunni
    Islam was seen as a part.

    The pro-ethnic Turkmen policy enforced on society is also evident in
    official harassment of ethnic Turkmen members of religious minorities, as
    well as on non-Turkmen minorities. While the Russian Orthodox Church is
    tolerated, the Armenian Apostolic Church has been banned from reviving. An
    estimated 15 per cent of those who attend Russian Orthodox churches are
    said by local people to be Armenians, although the Armenian Church is of
    the Oriental family of Christian Churches, not of the Orthodox family of
    churches. No Armenian Apostolic communities have legal status.

    Ethnic Turkmens who are members of non-Muslim faiths face public
    humiliation and accusations from officials of betraying their nation. For
    example, an ethnic Turkmen Protestant reported to Forum 18 that in early
    2008 he had been summoned before the community, accused of betraying his
    "ancestral faith" and pressured to renounce Christianity.

    State pressure to control religious communities

    After isolating the 12 Russian Orthodox parishes from the rest of their
    Uzbek-based diocese, former President Niyazov pressured the Moscow
    Patriarchate to move them into a jurisdiction controlled from within
    Turkmenistan. In October 2007 - after Niyazov's death - the Russian
    Orthodox Church took the parishes away from the Uzbek-based diocese and a
    new jurisdiction is now being formed.

    All other non-state controlled Islamic and non-Russian Orthodox religious
    communities - whether legally allowed to exist or not - are also subject to
    state pressure, restrictions and attempts at control. The permission of the
    Gengeshi at national level or through its local representatives is required
    for any activity, including state registration (the only means of gaining
    the legal right to exist) with the Justice (Adalat) Ministry, acquiring a
    place for religious meetings, acquiring religious literature or inviting
    foreign guests. Such requests are almost always denied and state officials
    often also impose illegal requirements, representatives of many religious
    communities have told Forum 18.

    Also violating the constitutional separation of religion from the state is
    the government role given to religious leaders, particularly giving them
    the right to interfere in the activity of other faiths. One of the Deputy
    Chairs of the Gengeshi for Religious Affairs is the Chief Mufti.

    Another of the Gengeshi's Deputy Chairs is Fr Andrei Sapunov of the
    Russian Orthodox Church, who has particular responsibility for Christian
    affairs. This gives Fr Sapunov an official power of veto over the affairs
    of other Christian denominations. His state role is acknowledged within the
    Ministry of State Security (MSS) secret police, even by local officers
    outside the capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat]. In many raids on Protestant
    churches in different regions of the country, MSS secret police officers
    have told Protestants that they must gain permission from Fr Sapunov before
    they can operate. Some Orthodox have told Forum 18 that they have evidence
    he passes information received in the confessional - which the Church
    teaches he should never reveal to anyone - to the MSS secret police. He has
    praised a ban on the importation of literature from Russia, which includes
    a ban on the official Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate.

    Members of religious minorities have complained to Forum 18 that officials
    of the Gengeshi appointed under President Berdymukhamedov tend to
    discriminate in favour of state-controlled Islam more than their
    predecessors appointed under former President Niyazov. The recently
    appointed officials appear to be even more willing than previous officials
    to routinely deny permission for non-Muslim activity.

    Sharing beliefs and religious education severely restricted

    Sharing religious beliefs in public is extremely hazardous and in the
    state-controlled media is impossible, while formal religious education,
    apart from at a basic level, within places of worship or elsewhere is
    impossible. The exception to this is a small Muslim theological section in
    the History Faculty of Magtymguly Turkmen State University in Ashgabad, the
    only institution in Turkmenistan authorised to train imams. The section
    faces restrictions on the number of students and has been banned from
    employing foreign staff. This particularly affected the Turkish staff
    previously employed by the Muslim theological section. However, although
    Muslims are not allowed to travel abroad for religious education, Russian
    Orthodox men from Turkmenistan are allowed to study for the priesthood
    outside the country.

    Other religious communities have been harassed for trying to give their
    members less formal religious education. About ten officials from the
    Religious Affairs Department of the Hyakimlik (the executive authority) of
    Ashgabad city's Kopetdag district, the Justice Ministry, the MSS secret
    police, local police and the Tax Ministry raided a Bible class at a
    Protestant church in April 2008. They threatened that any further religious
    teaching without specific permission from the Gengeshi could lead to the
    church being closed down, for teaching religion "without approval".

    Religious minorities' employment and education attacked

    Religious believers - especially Protestants and Jehovah's Witnesses -
    have been fired from their jobs or evicted from their homes because of
    their faith. Their children have also been threatened with expulsion from
    schools.

    Registration system used as a control system

    The registration system for acquiring legal status seems to be designed to
    ensure close control over religious communities that overcome the obstacles
    against registration. No provision is made for unregistered activity, which
    remains an offence under the Administrative Code and to be treated as if it
    were a criminal offence. The Gengeshi has to approve registration
    applications, which are then handed to the Justice Ministry. A special
    commission attached to the Justice Ministry processes registration
    applications. This commission includes representatives of law enforcement
    agencies and other ministries. Any of these bodies can reject applications,
    a frequent occurrence for communities the government does not like. This
    often happens outside Ashgabad.

    Shia Muslims, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Catholic Church,
    Protestant and the Jehovah's Witnesses are known to Forum 18 to have had
    applications rejected or to have decided that they should not submit
    applications because of the tight restrictions imposed. Officials also use
    applications as an opportunity to impose extra-legal requirements on
    communities. If communities obtain registration, they then need to be
    entered on the Register of Legal Entities, which has to be renewed by the
    religious community every three years. Communities also have to allow state
    officials to attend any meeting they wish to, read any document the
    community produces and every week check the counting and banking of
    donations. Registered religious communities have told Forum 18 that they
    are also required to be ready to collaborate with the MSS secret police.

    One arrested Baha'i was told - after the state decided in 2004 to allow
    religious minority communities to apply to register - that 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." President Niyazov at that time banned Muslims from
    registering new mosques. However, some religious minorities - such as some
    Protestants including Seventh-day Adventists, Bahai's and Hare Krishna
    devotees - have been eventually allowed to register.

    Religious communities have complained to Forum 18 that the 2004 Religion
    Law contains no mechanism for granting legal status to branches of
    religious organisations in other geographic locations. This means that the
    main registered branch must approve in writing anything a branch in another
    area tries to do. Officials have frequently used this as an excuse to raid
    and harass religious believers, even when the main branch has given written
    permission.

    There is one Catholic church in Turkmenistan, at the Holy See's Nunciature
    in Ashgabad, which has to serve the entire country. At present, Catholics
    in Turkmenistan can only legally celebrate Masses on this Vatican
    diplomatic territory. The two priests at the Nunciature have diplomatic
    status.

    Raids by the MSS secret police and other officials

    Unregistered religious communities face regular raids by MSS secret police
    officers, backed up by ordinary police officers (especially from the 6th
    Department, which notionally counters terrorism and organised crime),
    officials of the local administration and local religious affairs
    officials, who work closely together in suppressing and punishing as
    criminal all unregistered religious activity. Registered religious
    communities have often also suffered these raids or, more frequently,
    check-up visits.

    Local MSS secret police officers regularly summon Muslim and Orthodox
    clerics to report on activity within their communities. Some believers have
    told Forum 18 that the MSS also runs agents in each Muslim and Orthodox
    community, the numbers of such agents being as many as six agents per
    separate geographic community. In addition to their agents - who attend the
    religious community solely as part of their MSS work to gain information -
    there might be another ten or fifteen believers who are regularly
    interviewed by MSS officers and forced to reveal details of the community's
    religious life. The MSS secret police and the ordinary police also try to
    recruit agents in unregistered religious groups.

    Fear of openly discussing human rights violations

    Some religious communities are afraid to report human rights violations
    such as raids and MSS spying publicly, fearing it will make their situation
    worse or harm attempts to gain legal status. Religious believers and
    communities are also reluctant to publicly discuss the use of physical
    violence including torture by officials, which appears to be common.

    Use of the Ruhnama apparently lessening

    The forced imposition on places of worship of the Ruhnama (Book of the
    Soul), written by former President Niyazov, seems to have lessened since
    his death in 2006, but it has not disappeared. In his time all mosques and
    other places of worship were required to have copies available and
    officials likened it to the Koran or the Bible. The all-pervasive use of
    the Ruhnama (for example during driving tests), together with recitation of
    the oath of loyalty to the country and President, was objectionable to many
    religious parents who did not wish to subject their children to what they
    saw as blasphemous practices. However, the Ruhnama continues to be imposed
    in many areas of both state-controlled Muslim religious life and in state
    education.

    Isolation of religious believers and communities

    The obstructions to travel abroad have made it difficult to take part in
    international gatherings. Only 188 pilgrims - including MSS secret police
    and other officials - are allowed to travel on each year's haj pilgrimage
    to Mecca, an obligation on all able-bodied Muslims who can afford it. This
    represents less than 5 percent of the quota of about 5,000 allocated to
    Turkmenistan by the Saudi authorities. Many prominent religious figures are
    among those on an exit blacklist, or are earmarked for close scrutiny on
    leaving or re-entering Turkmenistan. Apart from the Russian Orthodox men
    allowed to study abroad, those travelling abroad for religious meetings and
    education have to be careful not to allow government officials to discover
    this. If officials find out that travellers intend to take part in
    religious meetings and education abroad, they risk being denied permission
    to leave the country.

    As part of its programme of isolating religious communities from their
    fellow-believers abroad, the government has expelled several hundred local
    residents with foreign passports over the past decade who had been
    prominent in religious activity. The last Shia imam of the Caspian port
    city of Turkmenbashi [Türkmenbashy, formerly Krasnovodsk], an Azeri citizen
    who had lived in Turkmenistan for more than a decade, was forced to leave
    the country in about 2005. The community has since had no trained imam.
    Baptist pastor Vyacheslav Kalataevsky - a Ukrainian citizen - was freed
    from prison in November 2007 and hoped to return to his native city of
    Turkmenbashi to his wife, children and his congregation. He was forced to
    leave the country the following month, the second Baptist pastor expelled
    in 2007. The deportation of foreign citizens involved in religious activity
    deprives local communities of their right to chose them as religious
    leaders.

    Restrictions on places of worship

    Places of worship have been confiscated and destroyed in recent years. At
    least nine mosques - eight Sunni and one Shia - were reported to have been
    destroyed in 2004-5. One local Muslim suggested to Forum 18 that four
    Ashgabad mosques demolished in autumn 2004 were targeted because their
    imams refused to read Niyazov's Ruhnama in their mosques. Places of worship
    that are still open are tightly restricted - with many faiths not being
    allowed any place of worship. The administration chief in Dashoguz has
    halted work on building a Russian Orthodox church. Other religious
    minorities have been denied permission to buy land and build places of
    worship or buy buildings to use as places of worship.

    Even communities that have state registration often cannot rent premises
    for worship and thus cannot meet as communities. Some have told Forum 18
    they can only meet in small groups for fear of police and secret police
    raids. They have complained to Forum 18 that "telephone law" prevails: the
    owner of a venue who agrees to rent to a religious organisation soon
    cancels the arrangement, apparently after a telephone warning from
    officials. Some registered religious communities have had to move their
    meeting place more than a dozen times over the period of a year.

    Meeting for worship in unapproved venues - such as private homes - is
    dangerous and can lead to raids and fines.

    Officials have indicated to Forum 18 that no compensation will be offered
    to Muslims for the destroyed mosques; the Armenian Apostolic Church would
    get no compensation nor be allowed to get back their century-old church in
    Turkmenbashi, partially destroyed in 2005; nor will the Adventist and Hare
    Krishna communities be compensated for their places of worship destroyed in
    1999; and nor will Ashgabad's Baptist and Pentecostal communities be able
    to get back their places of worship confiscated in 2001.

    The state loudly publicises the mosques it is building at state expense in
    Koneürgench in the northern Dashoguz Region, and in Mary in the east of the
    country. However, the decision to build these mosques was taken by the
    state, not by the Muslim community, and the use of state funds violates the
    separation of religion from the state mandated in the Constitution.

    Other "legal" controls

    March 2004 changes to the Religion Law and a presidential decree the same
    month in theory allowed communities with just five adult citizen founders
    to apply for legal status. This allowed about a dozen previously "illegal"
    religious communities to gain legal status over the next year, even if in
    practice such registration is now rarely given and - if given - is
    associated with extra-legal requirements. Also removed in 2004 were
    criminal penalties for unregistered religious activity. However,
    unregistered religious activity remains an offence under Article 205 of the
    Code of Administrative Offences and state agencies have continued to behave
    as if unregistered religious activity was still a criminal offence.

    Article 205 of the Code of Administrative Offences, which was last amended
    in October 2003, specifies fines for those refusing to register their
    religious communities of five to ten times the minimum monthly wage. Fines
    can be doubled for repeat offenders. Many believers of a variety of faiths
    have been fined under this article, including Baptists, Hare Krishna
    devotees and Jehovah's Witnesses, after raids on unregistered religious
    meetings.

    Officials declared in early 2008 that the Religion Law is among several
    laws to be amended, but despite rumours that it was scheduled for adoption
    in parliament in September 2008 had made no draft text available by late
    July. These plans are not open to public discussion and debate, and
    officials have refused to explain to Forum 18 how the Law is likely to be
    amended. Religious believers Forum 18 has spoken to welcome any attempts to
    make the Law conform to international human right standards. But they
    remain sceptical over whether such changes will mark a genuine change by
    the authorities away from attacking people who exercise their right to
    religious freedom.

    Officials appear to have no expectation that they will be held accountable
    for violating fundamental human rights. Article 154 of the Criminal Code
    bans "obstructing the exercise of freedom of conscience and religion", but
    Forum 18 is not aware of any government officials having been punished for
    breaking this published law. Examples of violations Forum 18 has documented
    include organising or taking part in harassment of religious communities,
    whether beatings, threats, detention, fines, demolition or seizure of
    places of worship, confiscation of religious literature or denial of the
    right to travel for religious purposes. When religious believers challenge
    the legality of official actions, the officials concerned are often found
    to be ignorant of the relevant parts of the country's Constitution and
    published laws. But officials continue to regularly break the country's
    laws while attacking people exercising their fundamental human rights.

    Control of religious literature

    Religious literature, CDs and DVDs found by police or the MSS secret
    police in raids on religious meetings in private homes are routinely
    confiscated. Occasionally it is later returned, though often only after
    great efforts and pressure from the owners, who risk further punishment by
    so doing. Bibles and other literature were confiscated from a group of
    Jehovah's Witnesses in Ashgabad in March 2008.

    No religious literature may be published in Turkmenistan or imported into
    the country without permission from the Gengeshi. Each title and the
    quantity must be specifically approved. The Post Office holds all religious
    literature received from abroad by post, releasing it only when the
    Gengeshi has given written approval. Forum 18 has learnt that very
    occasionally the Gengeshi allows small parcels of religious literature sent
    from abroad to registered religious organisations to be handed to them.

    Customs officers sometimes allow travellers returning to the country to
    bring in a small quantity of religious literature for personal use.
    Anything more than a small quantity of books or other material is
    confiscated, irrespective of whether or not the person is a Turkmen
    citizen. One Orthodox believer told Forum 18 that on at least five
    occasions known to him, Orthodox priests had had literature taken from them
    at the border on their return to the country.

    Religious publications such as the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate are
    banned in Turkmenistan. Even Orthodox priests do not receive the Journal
    regularly, being forced to rely on old copies occasionally acquired abroad.
    Some Russian Orthodox churches have small bookstalls, but supplies of
    books, baptismal crosses and icons are limited and often too expensive for
    local people. Protestant Christians have lamented to Forum 18 that neither
    a Bible Society nor Christian bookshops are allowed to exist.

    Access to the Internet is possible only via state providers that exert
    strict control over what information can be accessed. The majority of
    international religious websites are not accessible by an Internet user in
    Turkmenistan. Moreover, a special computer program searches emails for
    coded words that could be used to send "unreliable information", while "a
    suspicious message" will not reach the addressee.

    Prisoners

    Some believers have been given long prison sentences in recent years for
    their religious activity or have been sent into internal exile to remote
    parts of the country. These have included Muslims, Protestants, Jehovah's
    Witnesses and a Hare Krishna devotee. All of them have now been freed,
    though three Jehovah's Witnesses are serving suspended sentences.

    Jehovah's Witnesses have expressed concern to Forum 18 about these
    continuing sentences imposed on their conscientious objectors for refusing
    compulsory military service on grounds of religious conscience. Six young
    men were sentenced in 2007, of which two are still serving suspended
    sentences. One, Vladimir Golosenko, was sentenced on 12 February 2008 to
    two years' forced labour. He is not in prison, but 20 percent of his wages
    go to the state. The lack of any genuine alternative service means that any
    of their young men could still be arrested at any time.

    Forum 18 has learnt that the government is this year (2008) considering
    introducing some form of alternative service, but it is unclear whether any
    definite proposals are being considered or how genuine this alternative
    service will be. It also remains unclear whether everyone's right to
    conscientious objection will be respected by the state. General Comment 22
    on Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
    by the former UN Human Rights Committee, states that conscientious
    objection to military service is a legitimate part of everyone's right to
    freedom of thought, conscience and belief.

    What changes do Turkmen citizens want in religious policy?

    Religious believers of a variety of faiths have told Forum 18 that they
    want to see Turkmenistan respect freedom of thought, conscience and belief,
    as defined under international human rights standards. They state that they
    most want the government to:

    - stop officials taking any action or imposing any requirement they want
    against religious believers and communities;

    - end the obstructions to building, buying, renting, or opening places of
    worship;

    - stop interfering with the beliefs and internal affairs of religious
    communities, including theological education and internal personnel
    appointments;

    - end racial discrimination against non-ethnic Turkmen religious
    believers;

    - permit believers to freely provide religious education to whoever wants
    it;

    - reinstate believers fired from their jobs for their membership of
    religious communities;

    - allow people to share their beliefs in public, including through
    publishing and distributing religious literature;

    - allow peaceful unregistered religious activity and register all
    religious communities that wish to apply for legal status in this way;

    - cease attacking religious activity, including abolishing all legal
    barriers to peaceful registered or unregistered religious activity;

    - end police and MSS secret police raids on religious meetings, whether in
    private homes or elsewhere;

    - end MSS secret police and other official attempts to spy on and control
    peaceful religious activity;

    - end interrogations and fines of peaceful religious believers;

    - stop trying to isolate religious believers and communities from
    co-religionists in other states, including using exit blacklists and other
    entry and exit controls as tools of oppression against all residents;

    - stop imprisoning people for exercising their rights to freedom of
    thought, conscience and belief;

    - introduce a genuinely civilian non-discriminatory form of alternative
    service for people liable for compulsory military service;

    - compensate people punished by the state for peacefully practising their
    faith;

    - and bring to legal accountability all those responsible for attacking
    individuals and communities exercising their internationally-recognised
    right to religious freedom. (END)

    For a personal commentary by a Protestant within Turkmenistan, on the
    fiction - despite government claims - of religious freedom in the country,
    and how religious communities and the international community should
    respond to this, see <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id= 728>.

    For a personal commentary by another Turkmen Protestant, arguing that
    "without freedom to meet for worship it is impossible to claim that we have
    freedom of religion or belief," see
    <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article _id=1128>.

    More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Turkmenistan
    can be found at
    <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&a mp;religion=all&country=32>.

    The previous Forum 18 Turkmenistan religious freedom survey can be found
    at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id= 672>.

    A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the
    Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at
    <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_ id=806>, and of religious
    intolerance in Central Asia is at
    <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_ id=815>.

    A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
    <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpedition s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme& gt;.
    (END)

    © Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
    You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
    F18News http://www.forum18.org/

    Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
    http://www.forum18.org/
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