Turkmenistan
Prisoners
Shageldy Atakov RELEASED
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2002 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
March 31, 2003
Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, as does the 1991 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations, which was amended in 1995 and 1996; however, in practice the Government did not protect these rights. The law has been interpreted to control religious life tightly and to restrict severely the activities of all religions. There are no safeguards in the legal system that provide for remedy against violation of religious freedom or persecution by private actors.
There is no state religion, but the majority of the population is Sunni Muslim. The Government has incorporated some aspects of Islamic tradition into its efforts to redefine a national identity. However, the Government placed some restrictions on Muslims. For example, the Government controlled the establishment of Muslim places of worship and limited access to Islamic education. In a meeting with religious leaders in January, President Niyazov stated that he had closed all but one institution of Islamic education to prevent what he believed was inappropriate instruction of Islam. He also stated that future annual classes of religious students would be limited to between 15 to 20 students a year, who would study at the Theological Faculty at TSU. The Government controlled the curriculum of this instruction. The state-supported Council on Religious Affairs (CRA) was part of the government bureaucracy and appeared to exercise direct control over the hiring, promotion, and firing of both Sunni Muslim and Russian Orthodox clergy, despite the fact that this role is not listed among the CRA's duties in the Law on Religion.
There was no official religious instruction in public schools. However, students were required to study Rukhnama at all public schools and institutes of higher learning (see Section 2.a.). Mosques were also required to keep copies of Rukhnama, and President Niyazov has been mentioned officially in Muslim prayer. The President attempted to use these teachings in part to supersede other established religious codes, as well as historical and cultural texts, and thereby shape citizens' religious and cultural behavior.
According to the law on religious organizations, all congregations are required to register with the Government; however, in order to register, a congregation must have 500 citizens (each at least 18 years old) in each locality in which it wishes to register. Authorities have interpreted the law to mean that a congregation with 500 members throughout the country cannot register; that number must be in a single locale. As a result of these requirements, the Government continued to deny registration to religious communities, except Sunni Muslims and Russian Orthodox Christians, most of whom have succeeded in registering. However, there were credible but unconfirmed reports that certain congregations of Russian Orthodox Christians were prevented from practicing their faith despite the religion's registration with the Government.
Non-registered religious congregations were present in the country, including Bahai's, Baptists, Hare Krishnas, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Pentecostals, among others; however, the Government restricted their activities. Non-registered religious groups were prohibited officially from conducting religious activities, including gathering, disseminating religious materials, and proselytizing. This was a consequence of the Government's interpretations of the law rather than the law itself, which does not prohibit non-registered religious groups from gathering. For example, the Law on Public Associations specifically excludes its application in the case of religious gatherings. Nevertheless, government authorities regularly applied the Law on Public Associations when non-registered religious groups meet, even if the meetings occurred in private homes. Participants were subject to fines and administrative arrest, according to the country's administrative code, and once administrative measures were exhausted, they were subject to criminal prosecution. In such cases, the Soviet-era 1988 regulation on the procedure for conducting gatherings, meetings, marches, and demonstrations was applied, although gatherings in private homes were not within the scope of this regulation.
In November and December, local authorities, including intelligence and law enforcement officials, pressured a member of the Baha'i faith to abandon her beliefs, forced her to surrender religious literature, and threatened to resettle her to a labor colony if she persisted in teaching and distributing literature about Baha'ism to members of her village. The incident appears to have been locally isolated; there were no reports of similar harassment from other Baha'i believers. Members of minority faiths generally were able to quietly practice their faith as long as they avoided the attention of authorities.
There was a significant decline in the reports of government harassment of Baptists. However, on July 14, state officials visited the homes of two Baptist families and ordered their deportation. Authorities cited the expiration of the families' residence permits in November 2001 as the reason for the deportation order. Keston News Service reported that in January in Khazar, six members of a Baptist congregation were fined for holding "illegal services." Also in Khazar, in December 2001, there were reports that authorities threatened an elderly blind Baptist with eviction from her apartment after she held a Baptist service that had been raided by secret police earlier in the week.
In November 2001, police raided a Protestant Word of Life Church in Ashgabat. Approximately 40 persons were arrested after police dispersed the gathering held in a private apartment. Three foreign citizens who participated in the meeting were deported. The other participants subsequently were released, but authorities imposed large fines on them. The Church members were threatened with dismissal from work, confiscation of identity documents, and long-term imprisonment if the fines were not paid. The owner of the apartment in which the meeting was held was threatened with eviction. There were no reports on whether the eviction was carried out. In December 2001, the Keston News Service reported that several members of the Church were rearrested for their participation in the November meeting; one member was reportedly sentenced to 15 days in prison. This report was not confirmed.
In January Baptist prisoner of conscience Shageldy Atakov was released from prison. Atakov had been in prison since 1999 for allegedly making an illegal transfer of automobiles in 1994. His original sentence of 2 years had been extended to 4 years and he was reportedly fined $12,000 (62.4 million manat at the official rate; 258 million manat at the unofficial rate), an unusually large fine for such an offense. Atakov denied the charges and claimed that he was being imprisoned because of his religious beliefs. Following his early release from prison, Atakov was placed under a month of observation by agents of the MNB, after which he was given complete freedom of movement and allowed to receive visitors.
In November 2001, the Government charged the owner of an apartment for holding meetings of an unregistered religious organization in her home. The apartment owner was fined and evicted from her apartment. In January she left the country fearing for her personal safety.
Ethnic Turkmen who have converted to Christianity have been subjected to official harassment and mistreatment. Ethnic Turkmen members of unregistered religious groups who were accused of disseminating religious material received harsher treatment than members of other ethnic groups, particularly if they have received financial support from foreign sources.
Foreign missionary activity is prohibited, although both Christian and Muslim missionaries were present in the country.
The Government attempted to restrict the freedom of parents to raise their children in accordance with their religious beliefs.
Unregistered religious groups faced government harassment if they attempted to distribute religious literature.
In January the Government abolished the exit visa regime that restricted external movement by citizens. Members of unregistered religious groups were allowed to travel to other countries for religious meetings without interference, and there were reports of believers exercising this option. In May approximately 30 Catholics were allowed to travel to Azerbaijan, to attend a Mass given by the Pope. During the year, the Government controlled the number of persons allowed to participate in the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca (the hajj), specifying that only 187 pilgrims would be allowed to journey to Mecca (out of the country's quota of 4,600). Transport was to be provided free of charge by the national airline. However, in January the Government abolished exit visas, in theory permitting travel to all those who wished to participate in the Hajj. The Government did not release statistics on how many pilgrims actually participated in the Hajj during the year; however, there were anecdotal reports of individuals participating even though the Government closely screened travelers.
Keston News Service reported that in December 2001, several members of Jehovah's Witnesses who had been imprisoned for conscientious objection were released; however, six coreligionists were not, reportedly because they refused to swear an oath of loyalty by placing a hand on the Koran.
The societal attitude toward conversion from Islam to any other religion generally was surprise, and often disapproval.
For a more detailed discussion see the 2002 International Religious Freedom Report.
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