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  • Turkmenistan - Why can't believers freely enter, leave or remain?

    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

    ========================================== ======
    Wednesday 19 November 2008
    TURKMENISTAN: WHY CAN'T BELIEVERS FREELY ENTER, LEAVE OR REMAIN IN THE
    COUNTRY?

    As in previous years it appears that the government will allow only 188
    Muslims to go on the haj pilgrimage to Mecca this year directly from
    Turkmenistan. "Only those on the official list who have been approved by
    the Cabinet of Ministers will go to Mecca on the one aeroplane," one source
    told Forum 18 News Service from Ashgabad. Would-be pilgrims must present an
    application form to their imam, who hands it to the regional authorities
    who pass it on to Ashgabad, a Muslim told Forum 18 from Turkmenbashi. He
    said two or three pilgrims are travelling this year from the city, while
    the waiting list is long. Meanwhile, the daughter of a Baptist pastor
    expelled from Turkmenistan in 2007 was herself obliged to leave in early
    November, despite being married to a Turkmen citizen. By contrast,
    relatives of another Baptist former prisoner were banned from leaving for
    Russia in the summer when they arrived at the airport. The new Moscow-based
    Russian Orthodox bishop for Turkmenistan is planning to make his first ever
    visit to the country.

    TURKMENISTAN: WHY CAN'T BELIEVERS FREELY ENTER, LEAVE OR REMAIN IN THE
    COUNTRY?

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

    As has been the practice for many years, it appears that only 188 Muslim
    pilgrims are being allowed to take part directly from Turkmenistan in this
    year's haj pilgrimage to Mecca which begins later this month, Forum 18 News
    Service has learned. "Only those on the official list who have been
    approved by the Cabinet of Ministers will go to Mecca on the one
    aeroplane," one source told Forum 18 on 19 November from the capital
    Ashgabad [Ashgabat]. "The government draws up the list and orders the
    aeroplane."

    The government often prevents those it does not like - including prominent
    religious believers - from leaving the country. The government has also
    expelled from the country over recent years active members of religious
    communities who do not hold Turkmen passports, even if they have been
    living in the country for many years. Obliged to leave Turkmenistan at the
    beginning of November because of the authorities' repeated refusal to issue
    a residence permit was Tatyana Kalataevskaya, the daughter of an expelled
    Baptist pastor.

    At the same time, Turkmenistan's strict entry criteria prevent local
    religious communities from freely inviting their fellow-believers from
    abroad, leaving them often isolated from international contacts.

    The government website reported on 4 November that President Gurbanguly
    Berdymukhamedov had signed a decree arranging for 188 pilgrims to travel on
    the haj between 24 November and 14 December. It said the national airline
    had been ordered to organise a special flight on a Boeing 757 to Saudi
    Arabia and back, which the airline itself was to pay for.

    The quota for pilgrims assigned to Turkmenistan by the Saudi government
    has never been officially announced, but is believed to be about 5,000.
    Turkmenistan has a population of some 6 million, the majority of them of
    Muslim background.

    This year the mainly-Muslim southern Russian region of Dagestan - with a
    population of some 2.5 million - is expecting to send at least 8,000
    pilgrims from Russia's quota, with the Dagestani government hoping to send
    even more. Uzbekistan - with a population of some 27 million - is expecting
    to send 5,000 pilgrims, while Kyrgyzstan - with a population of more than 5
    million - is expecting to send 4,500.

    The haj pilgrimage is compulsory at least once in their lifetime for
    Muslims who are able to perform it (there are exemptions, for example for
    ill health) within Dhu al-Hijja, the twelfth and final month in the Islamic
    calendar. However, given that for many years the Turkmen authorities have
    allowed no more than 188 pilgrims each year, this is an obligation that the
    vast majority of the country's Muslims are unable to fulfil.

    The Turkmen authorities have never explained why they allow only one
    aeroplane of pilgrims to travel. However, for the 2007 pilgrimage they
    claimed that in addition to the official party, pilgrims were allowed to
    travel on the haj independently. But the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Ashgabad
    confirmed to Forum 18 in 2007 that the only pilgrims directly from
    Turkmenistan were those on the officially-sponsored aeroplane (see F18News
    14 December 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id= 1062>).

    Diplomats at the Saudi Arabian Embassy refused to tell Forum 18 on 12
    November what this year's quota for pilgrims from Turkmenistan is, nor how
    many haj visas it has issued. An official of the Iranian Embassy in
    Ashgabad told Forum 18 on 19 November that it was his understanding that
    only the official aeroplane is authorised by the Turkmen authorities to
    take pilgrims on the haj. He said his embassy is willing to give transit
    visas to haj pilgrims, but that restrictions are "from the Turkmen side".

    No one at the government's Gengeshi (Council) for Religious Affairs was
    prepared to explain the procedures to Forum 18 on 17, 18 or 19 November or
    why so few pilgrims out of the country's quota are allowed to go. The man
    who answered the phone of deputy chairman Nurmukhamed Gurbanov on 18
    November immediately hung up as soon as Forum 18 introduced itself. Also
    hanging up on 18 November after Forum 18 had introduced itself was the
    woman who answered the phone of Shirin Akhmedova, the head of the
    government's National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights.

    Nor were any officials of local hyakimliks in several districts of
    Ashgabad or in several other cities prepared to explain the procedures to
    Forum 18.

    One Ashgabad-based source told Forum 18 on 19 November that the Cabinet of
    Ministers makes all the arrangements, using the Gengeshi for Religious
    Affairs under its jurisdiction. The source said would-be pilgrims have
    their documents processed through the local religious affairs official in
    the hyakimlik (administration) where they live, though all the decisions on
    who may or may not travel are taken in Ashgabad. "The procedure is not
    published," the source lamented.

    A Muslim in the Caspian port city of Turkmenbashi [Türkmenbashy, formerly
    Krasnovodsk] told Forum 18 that Muslims who want to go on the haj must fill
    in an application form and hand it to the city's imam. The imam then passes
    on the application to the velayat (regional) authorities, who then process
    the application from there. Would-be pilgrims have to present their
    passport and local residence registration with the application.

    "People are then added to the queue - which is about 1,000 long here in
    Turkmenbashi," the Muslim told Forum 18 on 19 November. "I'm in the queue,
    but I haven't asked what number I'm at. Some people on the list become ill,
    so can't travel when their name comes up, so someone else is then able to
    go." The Muslim would not say how many years those on the local list have
    to wait for a place to become available. He said that two or three pilgrims
    are travelling on this year's haj from Turkmenbashi, a city with a
    population of some 70,000.

    On 11 November Deutsche Welle's Central Asian service quoted one would-be
    pilgrim as declaring that the authorities deliberately choose the most
    "loyal" Muslims to go on the official list, and select Sunnis rather than
    Muslims from the minority Shia community. It added that the authorities do
    not want those who have studied Islam in Turkey or Pakistan to increase
    their authority and influence by going on the haj.

    Deutsche Welle adds that some would-be pilgrims make their way to Turkey
    without telling the Turkmen authorities that they are going on the haj.
    They then make arrangements from there. Sources have also told Forum 18 of
    such independent would-be pilgrims who travel to third countries in a bid
    to travel on the haj.

    Meanwhile, Tatyana Kalataevskaya, the daughter of Baptist pastor
    Vyacheslav Kalataevsky, had to leave Turkmenistan on 1 November, the family
    told Forum 18 from Ukraine on 17 November. "She wasn't forced to leave, but
    the Turkmen authorities did nothing to allow her to remain," the family
    reported. They say the Migration Service visited her at her home in
    Ashgabad and promised a residence permit by the end of October. However,
    they said later that no order had been received "from above" to issue the
    permit so they could not do so.

    "The authorities didn't say why they were not giving permission - we can
    only guess that the reason is religious," the family told Forum 18,
    "because of everything they did to our family."

    Kalataevskaya was born in Ukraine but went to live in Turkmenistan in 1999
    when her family returned there. In what the family believes is part of
    government pressure on it, Kalataevskaya was among family members denied a
    residence permit in 2005. Without a residence permit her marriage to a
    Turkmen citizen could not be registered officially. Their two children were
    born in Turkmenistan.

    Kalataevsky - a Ukrainian citizen who led an independent Baptist
    congregation in his native city of Turkmenbashi - was imprisoned from March
    2007. Freed in November 2007 he was forced to leave Turkmenistan the
    following month after the authorities refused his application to remain
    with his wife and children. Before his enforced departure, officials warned
    Kalataevsky that any services his church held would be illegal and tried to
    force him to sign a statement declaring that it would not meet (see F18News
    21 November 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id= 1050>).

    "Although my father and brother still live in Turkmenistan, my return is
    closed," Kalataevsky told Forum 18. "All methods of return are blocked."

    Fellow-Baptist Yevgeny Potolov, also from Turkmenbashi and a Russian
    citizen, was arrested soon after Kalataevsky. He was deported from
    Turkmenistan in July 2007 (see F18News 15 August 2007
    <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1008>).

    Barred from leaving Turkmenistan in June was Artygul Atakova, wife of
    former Baptist prisoner Shageldy Atakov. Baptists told Forum 18 that she
    and six of her children had tickets for the flight to Russia, where she was
    due to have medical treatment. Although all their tickets and documents
    were in order, all seven were refused permission to check in and board the
    flight at Ashgabad Airport. When her husband asked for a written
    explanation of why she and the children were barred from travelling,
    officials responded: "The MSS have given us an order not to allow you and
    your family out of the country."

    The Atakov family - all of them Turkmen citizens - live in the village of
    Kaakhka near Ashgabad.

    In May 2006 Atakov was due to fly to Moscow to meet fellow Baptists. He
    already had a ticket, had passed through passport control at Ashgabad
    Airport and was sitting in the aeroplane when officers of the MSS secret
    police took him off the flight shortly before takeoff was due. The
    Migration Service told Forum 18 he was denied permission to leave because
    he was on the exit black list (see F18News 31 May 2006
    <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=790>).

    Atakov was imprisoned for his faith on trumped-up charges from December
    1998 to January 2002. He was freed early after the Turkmen government bowed
    to international pressure. However, to the surprise of officials, Atakov
    rejected the government's offer for him to emigrate. He is now suffering
    from diabetes which he attributes to the years of maltreatment in prison,
    Baptists told Forum 18.

    However, some of those who earlier have been barred from leaving
    Turkmenistan to punish them for their religious activity have been able to
    travel abroad this year. Sources told Forum 18 that one Ashgabad-based Hare
    Krishna devotee was allowed to travel to India in early 2008 to take part
    in the Gaura Purnima (Golden Full Moon) festival - the first time the
    devotee had been able to travel abroad for many years. The devotee had
    earlier been given a five-year foreign travel ban "with no explanation".
    However, the devotee was not allowed to re-enter Turkmenistan with any
    religious books.

    Jehovah's Witnesses report no progress in the planned visit of a foreign
    delegation to the country to meet local Jehovah's Witnesses and to discuss
    the situation of their communities with officials. "We're very much
    interested in having a delegation go," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18
    from elsewhere in Central Asia on 19 November. "We want to discuss with
    higher officials and remove any possible misunderstandings." They report
    that earlier contacts with the Turkmen Embassy in Washington DC have not
    led to any offers of visas.

    The last known visit to Turkmenistan by a clergyman of the Armenian
    Apostolic Church was back in 1999, although the country has a long-standing
    ethnic Armenian minority. Members of the community have made attempts to
    restart religious activity but the authorities have always rejected these
    attempts (see F18News 24 May 2006
    <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=787>).

    A handful of foreign visitors invited by local religious communities have
    been able to come to Turkmenistan. Members of the Seventh-day Adventist
    Church told Forum 18 that Artur Stele (who leads the Euro-Asia Division of
    the Church) and his wife Galina were able to visit the local church from
    Russia in September, the first time any Adventist leader has been able to
    visit the country with an official work visa in more than eight years.

    One foreign religious leader with pastoral oversight in Turkmenistan who
    has not yet visited the country is Bishop Feofilakt (Kuryanov) of the
    Russian Orthodox Church. The 34-year-old bishop was named by the Holy Synod
    on 6 October as the first head of the Patriarchal Deanery, the body
    overseeing the dozen or so Russian Orthodox parishes in Turkmenistan under
    the authority of Patriarch Aleksy. Although the news was reported on the
    pro-government Turkmenistan.ru website, Forum 18 has been unable to find
    any local Turkmen media which published news within the country of Bishop
    Feofilakt's appointment.

    The parishes in Turkmenistan were transferred by the Holy Synod in October
    2007 from the jurisdiction of the Central Asian Diocese based in the Uzbek
    capital Tashkent after heavy pressure from the Turkmen authorities (see
    F18News 19 October 2007
    <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1037>).

    Bishop Feofilakt told Forum 18 from Moscow on 7 November that he has never
    visited Turkmenistan. He added that he was planning his first visit and was
    preparing to lodge his visa application with the Turkmen embassy in Moscow.

    Metropolitan Kirill, head of the Department of External Church Relations
    at the Patriarchate, visited Turkmenistan in May 2008, the first time a
    Russian Orthodox bishop visited the country since Metropolitan Vladimir of
    Tashkent made a short pastoral visit in 2003 while the parishes were within
    his jurisdiction.

    Finally able to visit Turkmenistan at the government's invitation in
    September 2008 was Asma Jahangir, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on
    Freedom of Religion or Belief. Jahangir's predecessor, Abdelfattah Amor,
    requested permission to visit in 2003, but received no response. Jahangir
    renewed the request in 2005, eventually leading to the September visit.

    Jahangir said in Ashgabad at the conclusion of her visit that she was told
    by "virtually all" of her interlocutors "that the situation has much
    improved since 2007". However, she added that "individuals and religious
    communities still face a number of difficulties when manifesting their
    freedom of religion or belief". She pointed to the continuing ban on
    unregistered religious worship, "vague provisions" in the Religion Law that
    could lead to misuse, restrictions on religious literature, restrictions on
    building, opening and renting places of worship, and the lack of an
    alternative to compulsory military service.

    In contrast to her 5 September meeting with President Berdymukhamedov,
    which was widely reported on local television and the press, Jahangir's
    final press conference and statement went unreported in Turkmenistan's
    government-controlled media.

    Human Rights Watch is aware of at least three incidents in which
    representatives of three different religious communities in Ashgabad were
    warned by the security services not to meet Jahangir during her visit.
    (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>.

    For more background information see Forum 18's religious freedom survey of
    Turkmenistan at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id= 1167>.

    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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