MUSLIM HATE IN TURKMENISTAN
On the Human Rights and Security Crisis in Turkmenistan Violence Could Spread
Statement by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF)
Vienna and Moscow, 23 December 2002. Turkmenistan, the most repressive state in
Central Asia and the OSCE participating State most neglectful of that
organization’s efforts to promote human rights and democracy, may face more
attempts violently to overthrow of its government, especially after an alleged
presidential assassination attempt on 25 November 2002 and a subsequent wave of
arrests. Amnesty International, Memorial, Human Rights Watch and a newly formed
Helsinki human rights group composed of persons exiled from Turkmenistan have
reported on many violations of human rights in the context of the incident,
including arrests of family members of suspects, denial of access to lawyers,
and torture.
The death penalty may be reinstated following an orchestrated campaign in the
state-controlled mass media promoting execution of those accused of the
attempted assassination. Not only the accused but also their families would be
endangered by the decision.
Observers consider Turkmenistan’s government to be the most unstable in a region
where increasing poverty, corruption, and the abuse of basic human rights have
created a climate of political unrest that, more and more frequently, leads to
violent and illegal governmental repression of dissent. Civil conflict in
Turkmenistan would likely result in instability in neighboring countries where
political reform is likewise obstructed.
“Human rights violations in Turkmenistan are threatening regional stability and
security. The current governmental policy in Turkmenistan is only leading to a
reign of increasing state terror and reprisals,” Aaron Rhodes, IHF Executive
Director, and Vitalii Ponomarev, who directs Memorial’s program on Central Asia,
said in a joint statement.
The IHF and Memorial endorse the OSCE’s invocation of the Moscow Mechanism to
dispatch a mission to Turkmenistan that will look into the current situation.
Members of the OSCE should discuss with the regime of President Niazov the need
for dialogue and peaceful political change; free and independent media;
political pluralism; an active civil society; and cooperation with international
institutions.
The IHF and Memorial applaud a 12 December 2002 proposal by the OSCE
Representative on Freedom of the Media to hold a special OSCE meeting of the
organization’s Permanent Council devoted to the situation in Turkmenistan.
For more information:
Aaron Rhodes, IHF, Vienna: +43-1-408 8822/+43-676-635 6612
Vitalii Ponomarev, Memorial, Moscow: +7-095-200-65-06, 432-34-77
TURKMENISTAN: Official "religious hatred" towards non-Muslim faiths
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Protestants and Jehovah's Witnesses in Turkmenistan have complained to Forum 18 News Service about continuing official "religious hatred" towards followers of non-Islamic faiths. "Christians are disturbed that officials try to pressure people to turn away from the faith they have chosen," one Ashgabad-based Protestant told Forum 18. "Such officials are inciting interreligious hatred and this should end." The most recent such incident known to Forum 18 is official pressure by a 12-strong commission of officials and the local Muslim imam to force a convert to Christianity to renounce their faith. Officers of the Police and the Interior Ministry 6th Department – responsible for anti-terrorism and the fight against organised crime and religious activity – took part in the attacks. Members of minority faiths remain concerned that, while official policy proclaims interethnic and interreligious harmony, the reality is different, with hostility, threats and pressure to convert "back" to Islam.
Protestants and Jehovah's
Witnesses in Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat] and elsewhere in the
country have complained to Forum 18 News Service about what they regard as
officials' continuing "religious hatred" towards followers of non-Islamic
faiths. "Christians are disturbed that officials try to pressure people to turn
away from the faith they have chosen," one Ashgabad-based Protestant told Forum
18. "Such officials are inciting interreligious hatred and this should end."
Jehovah's Witnesses voiced similar concerns to Forum 18.
The most recent such incident known to Forum 18 is official pressure in December
2005 on a recent convert to Christianity, by a 12-strong commission of officials
and the local Muslim imam, The ethnic Turkmen convert to Christianity, who is
not identified for fear of retribution, joined a Protestant congregation in
Ashgabad in late 2005. The convert soon faced beatings from relatives and
expulsion from the family home. The family then brought in officers of the
Police and the Interior Ministry 6th Department to hunt the convert down. The
6th Department is responsible for anti-terrorism and the fight against organised
crime and religious activity.
Once the convert was located, the police took the convert to two police stations
for interrogation and then to the local Hyakimlik (administration). "For an
hour, 12 officials of the commission that handles violations of the law shouted
at the convert that they were a traitor to their faith," one Christian told
Forum 18. "In the presence of some relatives, they told the convert that if they
renounced Christianity and returned to Islam nothing more would happen. But the
convert refused to renounce the Christian faith." The convert was then allowed
to go, although officials told the convert on leaving: "You're ill" and "Your
head isn't working". Christians told Forum 18 that after the intimidation at the
hyakimlik, the convert has been left alone.
Forum 18 tried to find out why members of religious minorities face insults to
their faith and pressure to convert to another faith, especially in the light of
the country's proclaimed official separation of religion from the state.
However, telephones went unanswered on 19 January at the government's Gengeshi
(Committee) for Religious Affairs and at the presidential Institute of Democracy
and Human Rights (which always defends the government's actions). Likewise
unavailable was Ashgabad's official imam Mekan Akiev, who holds a post at the
city hyakimlik (administration) alongside his duties as a Muslim cleric.
Members of religious minorities remain concerned that while official policy
proclaims interethnic and interreligious harmony, the reality is different, with
hostility, threats and pressure to convert "back" to Islam. "This double
attitude comes from the very top," Protestants complained. "On the one hand the
President proclaims that registration of religious communities is possible and
that constitutional guarantees of religious freedom will be honoured, while on
the other he talks on television of people 'betraying' their faith."
In the wake of a 17 December 2005 raid on a prayer meeting of the
Turkmen-speaking registered Baptist church in the town of Deynau, in the
north-eastern Lebap region, officials insulted the faith of those detained and
even told the Baptists that local authorities should hold public meetings in
villages, where Christians should be personally named and denounced as traitors
(see F18News 19 December 2005
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=707).
"You're Turkmens – you should be Muslims," those detained were told. Officials
threatened to summon the entire local population and put the group of
Protestants in the middle of them. "The idea was to shame and humiliate them so
as to frighten others off who might be tempted to become Christians," Protestant
sources told Forum 18. "Although a date was named, officials eventually let them
go, but only after they had forced the believers to sign a statement that they
would read the president's book, the Ruhnama, instead of the New Testament."
President Niyazov's "spiritual writings" are a compulsory part of life in
Turkmenistan (see F18News 1 March 2005
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=522).
In recent years, officials have frequently insulted and expressed hostility to
the faith of members of religious minorities, especially Protestants, Jehovah's
Witnesses and Hare Krishna devotees. These expressions of religious hatred are
often accompanied by threats, beatings and fines. "About five years ago such
harassment and pressure was often sparked after church members signed religious
registration applications," one Protestant told Forum 18. "Such registration was
never given then, but officials used the lists of names to harass ethnic
Turkmens or ethnic Uzbeks who signed the applications."
Such pressure was especially common in villages, the Protestant added. Officials
together with the local mullah often descended on the homes of church members
and publicly berated them as "traitors", warning neighbours not to associate
with them. "Cases still come up today where police berate local Protestants, but
prefer to do so in private," the Protestant reported. "They do not want any
witnesses to what they are doing."
Religious minorities complain that the official positions given to Muslim
clerics in the government's religious affairs administration and the closeness
of many local mullahs to the authorities – especially in villages – helps
promote intolerance of religious minorities.