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
========================================== ======
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 <;
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 < 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 < 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
< 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
< 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
< 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
< 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 < 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
< _id=1128>.
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Turkmenistan
can be found at
< mp;religion=all&country=32>.
For more background information see Forum 18’s religious freedom survey of
Turkmenistan at < 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
< id=806>, and of religious
intolerance in Central Asia is at
< id=815>.
A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme& gt;.
(END)
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