Category: News

CYPRUS: Melkonian sale still on the table
The Cyprus Weekly
Nicosia (March 12, 2004)
DESPITE assurances given at the close of last year, the sale of the
Melkonian Armenian school in Nicosia is still on the table, school
committee member Vahak Atamyan said in a written statement this week.
“How ironic, then, that the school is threatened with closure, just as
Cyprus itself is on the threshold of full European Union membership;
the country may be entering Europe, but will it take the Melkonian
school with it?” Atamyan wondered.
The Melkonian Institute, dating back to 1926, is funded by the
US-based Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) along with another
20 or so Armenian schools world-wide. The AGBU has been considering a
general overhaul of its finances for some time, involving the possible
sale of the Melkonian, which is situated in a prime real estate
location and could fetch many millions of pounds.
“The more cynical view the matter as purely financial. Melkonian
occupies a prime site close to the centre of Nicosia and realisation
of capital rather than realisation of academic skills and potential is
held by some to be the current motivating principle,” Atamyan surmised
bitterly.

Whitehouse.gov Press release
March 11 2004
Personnel Announcement
President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate
seven individuals to serve in his administration:
The President intends to nominate Romolo A. Bernardi, of New York, to
be Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Mr. Bernardi
currently serves as Assistant Secretary of Community Planning and
Development for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Previously, he served as Mayor of the city of Syracuse, New York. Mr.
Bernardi earned his bachelor’s degree from The University of the
Americas and his master’s degree from Syracuse University.
The President intends to nominate Thomas Hill Moore, of Florida, to
be a Member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, for the
remainder of a seven-year term expiring October 2, 2009. Mr. Moore
has served as a member of the Commission since 1995. Earlier in his
career, he served as Legislative Counsel to Senator John Breaux.
Previously, Mr. Moore served as an executive vice president at the
National Medical Association. He earned his bachelor’s degree from
Jacksonville University and his Juris Doctors from the University of
Florida.
The President intends to nominate Edwin D. Williamson, of South
Carolina, to be Director of the Office of Government Ethics for a
five-year term. Mr. Williamson currently serves as a partner with the
law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell. He previously served as Legal
Advisor to the State Department. He earned his bachelor’s degree from
the University of the South and his Juris Doctors from New York
University School of Law.
The President intends to nominate Lewis W. Lucke, of Texas, to be
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of
America to the Kingdom of Swaziland. Mr. Lucke currently serves as
Mission Director and Reconstruction Coordinator for the United States
Agency for International Development, under the supervision of the
Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, Iraq. He previously
served as the Vice President for Global Communications for the CARANA
Corporation. Earlier in his career, Mr. Lucke served as Mission
Director for the United States Agency for International Development
in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and Amman, Jordan. He earned his bachelor’s
degree from the University of North Carolina and his master’s degree
from the American Graduate School of International Management.
The President intends to nominate Earle I. Mack, of New York, to be
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of
America to the Republic of Finland. Mr. Mack has worked for The Mack
Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey for forty years and currently serves
as the company’s senior partner. He earned his bachelor’s degree from
Drexel University.
The President intends to nominate Jackson McDonald, of Florida, to be
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of
America to the Republic of Guinea. A career member of the Senior
Foreign Service, Mr. McDonald currently serves as the United States
Ambassador to the Republic of The Gambia. Previously, he served as
Deputy Chief of Mission in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Mr. McDonald
earned his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.
The President intends to nominate John M. Ordway, of California, to
be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States
of American to the Republic of Kazakhstan. A career member of the
Senior Foreign Service, Mr. Ordway currently serves as United States
Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia. Prior to this position, he
served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in
Moscow, Russia. Mr. Ordway earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford
University and his Juris Doctors from the Hastings College of Law.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
March 12 2004
Georgian leader goes to Yerevan for talks on cooperation
YEREVAN, March 12 (Itar-Tass) – Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili arrives on Friday in Yerevan for a two-day official visit
aimed at discussing bilateral cooperation.
That is Saakashvili’s first visit to the Armenian capital after he
was elected president. The main agenda of his talks with Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan is cooperation in the sphere of transport
and the energy sector, as well as cultural cooperation, the press
secretary of the Armenian leader told Itar-Tass.
Armenia supplies the neighboring republic with electricity.
Meanwhile, the Armenian economy almost fully depends on the transit
or cargoes via Georgia, and Yerevan puts much emphasis on the issue
concerning the organization of and payment for those shipping
operations.
Kocharyan hails the level of relations with Georgia. Good personal
relations between the leaders of the two countries give an impetus to
a better development of good-neighborly relations, he stressed.
The programme of the visit includes tete-a-tete talks of the two
presidents, talks in an extended format, Saakashvili’s talks with the
parliament speaker, with the prime minister, as well as with
representatives of the Georgian diaspora in Armenia.
Catholicos Garegin II will also receive the new Georgian leader.

Baku Sun
March 12 2004
>From the local media
ECHO
Permission rejected
The Baku Mayor’s Office turned down a request by the Karabakh
Liberation Organization (QAT) to give permission to hold three
pickets in front of several government buildings in Baku on 12 March.
The pickets that were set to be held in front of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the President’s Apparatus and the Ministry of
Defense, were to demand that the government take more effective
measures to defend Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani officer who killed
his Armenian counterpart in Budapest in February.
The Mayor’s office related its refusal to give the QAT a go ahead
with the pickets with the organization’s belated appeal. It said that
while appeals to conduct actions should be submitted at least five
days beforehand, the QAT’s request came only on 9 March.
But Akif Naghi, head of the QAT, said his organization will discuss
going to the pickets without authorization.

Times of Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan
March 12 2004
The Role of Russian Increasing
BISHKEK (TCA). Between March 4 and 6 Bishkek hosted the international
congress, “Russian language in the community of the CIS peoples.”
Organized at the initiative of Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, the
forum gathered more than 400 specialists in Russian philology,
scholars, educators and public figures from Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Russia, Tajikistan, and
Ukraine. For the first time, a forum of this kind took place in a
Central Asian country. In the past, similar congresses were held in
Moscow, Warsaw, Berlin, and Prague.
“Each language is unique and thirsts for recognition,” Kyrgyz writer
Chingiz Aitmatov said in his welcome speech to the congress
participants. “But, following our traditions and developing our
language, we must never forget about the people and language that
have helped us to come out of medieval darkness. For this reason we
will save, protect, use, and cultivate Russian language as one of the
greatest values of the Kyrgyz nation.”
The development of the Russian language is not only an economic
priority, but also an important political task for Kyrgyzstan,
President Askar Akayev said at the opening ceremony for the congress.
In his words, the Russian language has never lost its position in
Kyrgyzstan and is protected by the Kyrgyz Constitution as an official
language. The President said that Kyrgyzstan lives in the information
space of the Russian language. Russian is the language of about 100
newspapers and several large television and radio channels in
Kyrgyzstan.
“I wish to destroy the myths concerning the passing of the law on the
state language of the Kyrgyz Republic,” the head of state said. “The
role of Russian language is increasing in all spheres of cooperation
in the entire Eurasian space, and refusal from its use would be a
mistake and irreplaceable loss. We will never choose this way.”
Russian is the means of communication and preservation of close
spiritual relationships. Unfortunately, many people today have to
protect their natural right for the native language. This was stated
in the address of Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, to
the congress participants. The Patriarch thanked the Kyrgyz
government for the fact that the country “supports Russian language
at the highest level” and that Russian “has been given the status of
the official language while Kyrgyz is the state language.”
The Russian education minister announced an almost two-fold increase
of budget-paid quotas for students from the CIS countries wishing to
study in Russian high schools this year. For Kyrgyzstan the quota is
300, which is six times higher than before.
In 2004 the Russian budget has allocated US $6 million for the
program titled, “The support of integration processes in the sphere
of education and Russian language in the CIS countries.” This amount
significantly exceeds budget allocations in previous years.
The congress participants were unanimous in their opinions that
integration in the post-Soviet domain has become a reality.
Therefore, there is the increasing need for Russian as the
international communication language, which is regaining its role as
the linking, cementing component for the integration process.
“Russian language is one of our strategic, pivotal properties,”
Chingiz Aitmatov said.

Boston Globe, MA
March 12 2004
Beauty of ‘Sketch Book’ draws attention to local pianist Ovsepian
By Bill Beuttler, Globe Correspondent, 3/12/2004
NEWBURYPORT — A few months ago, Brad Mehldau told jazzreview.com
that there is a fellow pianist out of Boston who had made a beautiful
record. “His name is Vardan Ovsepian,” the Grammy-nominated artist
said.
The record is “Sketch Book,” and Mehldau isn’t the only established
musician to become an admirer. Ovsepian, who will bring his quartet
(bassist Joshua Davis, drummer Take Toriyama, and vocalist Monica
Yngvesson) to the Regattabar on Wednesday for sets with guest
classical cellist Agnieszka Dziubak, is drawing notice from many
performers for the way he blends vocals with improvisation and
classically influenced compositions.
Saxophonist George Garzone, a member of Joe Lovano’s Grammy-winning
nonet and the long-lived local trio the Fringe, played a Regattabar
gig with Ovsepian’s quartet last year and may record with the group
on a future disc. And guitarist Mick Goodrick recorded three tracks
on “Sketch Book.”
“He’s one of the most talented young musicians I’ve seen in a long,
long time,” Goodrick says.
In his pieces, Ovsepian uses Yngvesson’s voice in a unique way — as
a horn-like instrument. He writes specifically with her vocals in
mind, and on “Sketch Book” her wordless soprano sings melodies in
unison with Ovsepian’s piano as Davis, Toriyama, and Ovsepian
improvise and supply rhythmic backing. The resulting sound is cool
and cerebral.
At times, Yngvesson is vaguely reminiscent of Flora Purim on Chick
Corea’s classic “Light as a Feather,” and Ovsepian’s piano-playing
reveals trace elements of some of his heroes: Mehldau, Keith Jarrett,
and Lennie Tristano. Ovsepian, 28, a thin, soft-spoken native of
Armenia, came to Boston in 1999 to begin a scholarship at Berklee
College of Music. In his walk-up apartment that he shares with
Yngvesson, Ovsepian says he first started thinking of writing for a
vocalist after listening to the work of Brazilian singer-composer
Luciana Souza. “At that time, everybody was saying, `You have to meet
Monica Yngvesson,’ ” he says. She had come over from Sweden on a
Berklee scholarship of her own. “So I started looking for her. And I
found her.”
Ovsepian’s latest batch of a dozen pieces was written for Dziubak’s
cello. The compositions are for a CD Ovsepian plans to record next
month and release in the fall. Pieces from that project will make up
the entirety of the Regattabar outing, Ovsepian says, and he,
Yngvesson, and Dziubak got a jump-start rehearsing the new material
in preparation for full-group practice sessions with Davis and
Toriyama. The rehearsals generally take place at the private music
school Musical Suite, a 10-minute walk from the couple’s apartment.
Ovsepian and Yngvesson have day jobs teaching at the school. They
might consider moving to New York at some point, but for now, living
in Newburyport makes sense for them. It may prove to be a strategic
step, Ovsepian says, “like a cat leaning back before it leaps.”
The Vardan Ovsepian Quartet performs with special guest Agnieszka
Dziubak at the Regattabar Wednesday. Sets at 8:30 and 10 p.m., $12;
617-876-8742.

Azerbaijan stops broadcasts from separatist Karabakh
Trend news agency
11 Mar 04
BAKU
Trend correspondent S. Agayeva: The illegal broadcast of an Armenian
TV channel from Susa to other Azerbaijani territories has been
stopped, the minister of communications and information technology,
Ali Abbasov, has said in an interview with Trend news agency.
Since direct talks with Nagornyy Karabakh, which is under Armenian
occupation, were impossible, the ministry used technical means to
prevent the broadcast of the station.
Speaking about the illegal broadcast of other TV stations in
Azerbaijan, Abbasov said that this issue is being resolved within the
appropriate CIS bodies. Recently, the Azerbaijani, Armenian and
Russian communications ministries signed a protocol in Moscow to stop
illegal broadcasts on each others’ territory. Armenia gave assurances
that in accordance with the document it will stop its broadcasts.

VH1.com
March 11 2004
System Of A Down Plan Benefit For Genocide Awareness

Show set for April 24 in Los Angeles.
by Jon Wiederhorn

System of a Down’s Serj Tankian (file) (Photo: MTV News)
In an effort to increase public awareness of the Armenian genocide,
System of a Down have organized a benefit show on April 24, the date
Armenians around the world set aside to recognize the atrocities
perpetrated for years against their people.
The band, whose members are all Armenian, will stage the show in Los
Angeles at the Greek Theatre. Most of the proceeds will be donated to
organizations including the Armenian National Committee of America,
which is lobbying the U.S. Congress to officially recognize the
Armenian genocide, in which the Ottoman Turks killed as many as 1.5
million Armenians between 1895 and 1915. The rest of the proceeds
will go to organizations that benefit victims of other genocides.
“You don’t see the Armenian genocide receiving much attention, and a
lot of countries haven’t even officially recognized it,” Tankian
said. “Whereas, I don’t think there’s a country that hasn’t
recognized the Jewish holocaust. And the information is out there.
There were over 200 articles printed in The New York Times alone
between April and December, 1915, about the horrific massacres by the
Ottoman Turks on the Christian Armenian population at the time.”
Tankian said the group organized the benefit to raise money, educate
their fans and create awareness through the media. System of a Down,
who have organized Armenian genocide postcard campaigns in the past,
decided to place themselves in the middle of the struggle because
they’re tired of waiting for U.S. politicians to act. Tankian said
that former President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush have
both promised to pass bills commemorating the genocide, but both
reneged for political reasons.
“It mostly has to do with [the U.S.] alliance with Turkey,” Tankian
said. “It’s a geopolitical concern more than anything. But that’s
still not an excuse. You can’t use politics, nor economics as an
excuse to cover up genocide. As we’ve learned, when you don’t
recognize something as horrible as that, it tends to repeat itself.
“And unlike Germany, who has accepted the Holocaust, we haven’t
gotten that from the Turkish government,” he continued. “They’re
denying it. They’re paying scholars to further their disinformation
campaigns. Imagine dealing with a holocaust that’s occurred and
having a government still denying it. And your government, the U.S.
government, contributes to it by not officially recognizing it. How
would you feel?”
Like most Armenians, Tankian lost many family members in the Armenian
genocide. “My family tree goes up to my grandfather and his
memories,” the singer said. “From there on, it’s cut off.”
>From the moment they formed in 1995, System of a Down have been
interested in educating their fans about the Armenian genocide. From
there, they became more interested in the political process and other
activist causes. In 2002, Tankian hooked up with Audioslave guitarist
Tom Morello to form Axis of Justice, an organization dedicated to
fighting corruption and standing up for workers’ rights.
“To me, the denial of the Armenian genocide and knowing the truth
that’s not fully out there opened my eyes to other injustices of the
world,” Tankian said. “It made me realize, hey, because of certain
things, people try to cover up crimes on a national and international
level, and it’s just horrifying. An injustice is an injustice.”

ARBEITSGRUPPE ANERKENNUNG – Gegen Genozid, Für Völkerverständigung e.V.
WORKING GROUP RECOGNITION – AGAINST GENOCIDE, FOR INTERNATIONAL
UNDERSTANDING
Dr. Tessa Hofmann
Mainauer Str. 9, II
D- 12161 Berlin
Phone: 0049/30/83854208
Fax: 851 79 74
Email: [email protected]
Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
– Jack Straw –
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH
March 11, 2004
– Interview with UK Ambassador Mrs Thorda Abbott-Watt
Sir,
it has been brought to our attention that the UK Ambassador to the
Republic of Armenia, Mrs. Thorda Abbott-Watt has repeatedly denied the
genocide of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during the years
1915/16.
Mrs Abbott Watt mentioned `mass killings` and `brutality`, but
ignored
that half of the victims died during death marches or exile in desert
areas from starvation, exhaustion and epidemics. The UN Convention on
Genocide describes such circumstances as `deliberately inflicting on
the
group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part.’ (Art. 2, c)
Mrs Abbott Watt is wrong in publicly doubting that the case of the
Armenian Genocide did not correspond with the definition and categories
of the UN Genocide Convention. She may not know that the author of this
convention, Mr Raphael Lemkin, drafted it on the empirical base of both
the Armenian and the Jewish Genocide as case studies during WW1 and WW2.
Mrs Abbott Watt may also be ignorant of the joint statement of May 27,
1915, in with the governments of Britain, France and Russia warned the
Ottoman government to held its members personally responsible for the
crimes committed on the Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire. In this
statement the killings of the Armenian population were categorised,
under the terms of contemporary law, as a crime against humanity and
civilization.[1]
Mrs Abbott Watt is obviously not qualified as a scholar of genocide
research. Otherwise she would know that the denial of genocide is
considered as an integral part of the crime and its final stage. Sadly,
Mrs Abbott Watt herself contributes to the crime of denial, thus keeping
painfully alive the trauma of the Armenian nation and upsetting all
others others, who are aware of the consequences of genocide denial.
As an international NGO, which is focusing on the recognition of denied
genocide crimes, we urge you to re-consider whether it is advisable
that Mrs Abbott Watt, who is ignorant of basic facts of legal history
and international relations and who makes repeated incompetent and
offensive statements, may continue her diplomatic career in a country,
where half of the population descends from survivors of genocide.
Sincerely,
Dr. Tessa Hofmann
Chairperson
_____
[1] The full text reads: `For about a month the Kurd and Turkish
populations of Armenia has been massacring Armenians with the connivance
and often assistance of Ottoman authorities. Such massacres took place
in middle April (new style) at Erzerum, Dertchun, Eguine, Akn, Bitlis,
Mush, Sassun, Zeitun, and throughout Cilicia. Inhabitants of about one
hundred villages near Van were all murdered. In that city Armenian
quarter is besieged by Kurds. At the same time in Constantinople Ottoman
Government ill-treats inoffensive Armenian population. In view of those
new crimes of Turkey against humanity and civilization, the Allied
governments announce publicly to the Sublime-Porte that they will hold
personally responsible [for] these crimes all members of the Ottoman
government and those of their agents who are implicated in such
massacres.’
Compare:

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

A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
tml?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme
(END)
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