Copyrighted material. For private use only.
[The following excerpt comes from a long first-page interview in which Acting President Vladimir Putin talked about the course of his life, from childhood through KGB activity to work in various state positions in post-soviet Russia.]
--Incidentally, have you been baptized?
--Yes. At one time an old woman lived with us in a communal apartment
in Leningrad, Baba Anya. And so when I was born she and Mama together took
me and baptized me, keeping it secret from my father because he was a party
member and secretary of the party organization at his shop.
--But your mother attended church?
--Yes, of course. Four years before my mother died I went to Israel.
Mama then gave to me the baptismal cross to sanctify it at the tomb of
the Lord. I took it and, so as not to lose it I wore it. From that
time on I have never taken it off. . . . (tr. by PDS)
(posted 11 March 2000)
While a decision on whether to ban her religious faith in Moscow has entered its second year in limbo, Zoya Cherednichenko, an elderly member of Jehovah’s Witnesses, continues to attend religious services, talk about her faith to others and distribute Bible literature. In some ways, nothing has changed.
But as a result of the delayed justice, she travels more than an hour to attend her religious services at a house of worship where 17 growing congregations juggle schedules in order to share the same building. Without a decision from the Moscow court exonerating Jehovah’s Witnesses, they continue to have problems renting meeting places or obtaining permits to build and renovate their own.
"On one hand, we are grateful for the fact that we have not been banned," she said. "On the other hand, we would like to have a decision made and to have our name cleared once and for all."
March 12 marks one year of suspension for the first court test of Russia’s 1997 religion law. The Moscow prosecutor’s office used the new law in an attempt to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses from the city. Rather than rendering a verdict, the judge suspended the trial pending an "expert" evaluation of Jehovah’s Witness doctrine.
Since then, other regional officials inside Russia have used the same delay tactic of having an "expert panel" determine the validity of religious doctrine. This includes the regions of Novgorod and Oryol. On March 1, 2000, the Ministry of Justice stated that the regional demand for such studies violated the law. In the regions of Lipetsk and Ryazan, officials have denied registration on religions grounds, such as an expert opinion that disagrees with Jehovah’s Witnesses’ view of the trinity. The European Court of Human Rights, to which Russia is subject, has already determined that a government does not have the authority to determine whether a religion’s beliefs are true or correct.
The civil trial in Moscow was the first to test Russia’s new law on religion in the courts. Hearings began on September 29, 1998, and were postponed twice before the suspension_once to allow time for the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office to find evidence for its charges, which it was unable to do. Four consecutive criminal cases on the same charges were dismissed for lack of evidence.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been present in Russia for more than a century and are legally registered in 158 countries. They were reregistered in Russia under the new religion law on April 29, 1999.
(posted 10 March 2000)
3 March 2000 (Newsroom) -- Authorities in a southern Russian region have declared that there is "no room" for Catholics and other religious minorities, the Keston News Service reports.
With Russian Orthodox Church backing, the justice administration of Belgorod continues to reject registration of the region's Catholic parish, whose church building has been turned over to the local Orthodox diocese, Keston says. The area's Orthodox bishop, Metropolitan Ioann Popov, has publicly demanded that the existence of a Catholic parish be forbidden.
According to a regional official there are "only a few religious minorities, and they will become ever fewer -- there is no room here for non-traditional religions." Orthodox clergy claim there are less than a dozen Catholics in the town of Belgorod, while the local newspaper estimates that there are several hundred.
The region of Belgorod borders Ukraine.
The local Catholic priest, Fr. Krzysztof Kempa, told Keston on February 29 that authorities do not want to register the Belgorod parish because they know that the Catholic community will demand the return of their church building. Kempa maintains that an atmosphere of open hostility toward Catholics has emerged because of close cooperation between the regional administration and the diocese, in violation of the Russian Constitution.
The Belgorod region's head of the department of religious affairs, Aleksei Lushchenko, explained to Keston that the "Orthodox Church is our traditional church, and therefore we will work together with it, and we will co-operate in all things." Lushchenko said that the government must help the Russian Orthodox Church "so that the West does not fill the spiritual vacuum, since the idea of the separation of church and state is in fact a sham."
The religious affairs official told Keston that the governor of the region, Yevgeni Savchenko, consults Metropolitan Ioann on all major issues. Also, law enforcement agencies have been ordered to monitor foreign missionaries in the region.
In a February 20 interview, a local Orthodox priest, Fr. Father Pavel Veingold, told Keston that the Catholics were not allowed to register because they were "a harmful Western influence." The priest claimed that the Catholic Church opposes the national rebirth of Russia and that Pope John Paul II's November 1999 visit to the Republic of Georgia was linked with assistance to Chechen rebels. Pavel said that ultimately Catholics have been refused registration because the Vatican wants to consolidate its hold in Belgorod as part of its policy of proselytizing.
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the U.S. State Department last week for an "accusing tone" in a recently released report that blamed Russian authorities for a deteriorating human rights situation in several regions, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. In its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999, issued February 25, the State Department said that "there are numerous reports that religious organizations either were denied registration or experienced long delays in reregistration, as local authorities sought to obstruct the activities of religious groups."
(posted 6 March 2000)
Washington, D.C.-- Today, the Obninsk City Court in the Kaluga region sent the case of Dmitry Neverovsky back to prosecutors "for further investigation" and refused to let him out of pre-trial detention pending a possible re-trial. The prosecutor handling the case urged that Neverovsky be forced to undergo a psychiatric examination.
Neverovsky is a young (26) Jewish man from Obninsk, whose only crime was to insist on his constitutional right to substitute alternative civilian service for mandatory military duty. The Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) condemned the ruling, which comes after a higher court's February 8th decision to send the case back to the City Court for retrial, as well as the authorities' continuing refusal to release Neverovsky from pre-trial detention.
In its report on human rights in Russia released last Friday, the U.S. State Department revealed that Russian detention centers and prisons are so harsh that between 10-20,000 prisoners died last year. Neverovsky has already been beaten at least once by guards and placed for several days in a freezing punishment cell.
"The threat of psychiatric detention, which was raised for the first time today, means that not only Dmitry's body, but also his mind is at risk," declared Micah H. Naftalin, UCSJ's National Director. "Perhaps the authorities think that if pre-trial detention doesn't break his spirit, being subjected to the tender mercies of police controlled psychiatrists will." In the Soviet period, psychiatrists frequently tortured dissidents using pain inducing and mind altering drugs. Over the last year, a well known journalist and some religious minorities have been threatened with psychiatric detention.
The Russian Constitution (Article 59, Part 3) guarantees the right to alternative service, but no federal law on alternative service has ever been passed. However, in a separate case, the Constitutional Court ruled on May 22, 1996 that a person requesting alternative service cannot be prosecuted for evading military service, a ruling that judges in the Neverovsky case have consistently ignored.
Dmitry Neverovsky is a member of the Antimilitary Radical Association, a Russian advocacy organization. His mother, Tatyana Kotlyar, is the head of the Obninsk Regional Group for the Defense of Rights, a participating member in the joint Moscow Helsinki Group/UCSJ regional human rights monitoring project. On November 25, 1999 Neverovsky was convicted of refusing military service and sentenced to two years in prison by the Obninsk City Court.
"This case is but the latest obscene example of a corrupt justice system, especially in provincial Russia," Naftalin added. "He should be out of jail on bail and the charges should be immediately dropped. We will continue our grassroots campaign to promote justice for Dmitry."
(posted 5 March 2000)
ST. PETERSBURG. One of the shrines of old St. Petersburg is the burial place of the blessed Matrenushka-Bosonozhka who was a well known spiritual counsellor in prerevolutionary Russia. She died in 1911. Her grave is located on the bank of the Neva at number 24 Obukhovskaia Oborona prospect. At this address several years ago the annex of the Holy Trinity Zelenets monastery was restored and soon a chapel will be erected here.
The blessed one, who lived a long life and always went barefoot (bosaia) and wore light clothing, for which she received the nickname Bosonozhka, received from God the gift of aiding people in numerous difficulties and misfortunes, especially diseases of the legs. This is widely known among church folk and every day a stream of pilgrims comes to the shrine. Miracles and healings which Matrenushka dispensed during her life are even now being accomplished. The Romanov royal family had high regard for the blessed one. Empress Alexandra Fedorovna wept for a long time when she learned of her death and she sent a wreath to her grave.
The grave of the blessed one was discovered during restoration work on the "Joy of all the sorrowing" chapel, a monument of the architecture of the beginning of the twentieth century. It has also been decided to erect a chapel over it just like what was done above the grave of Saint Kseniia of Petersburg in the Smolensk cemetery. Its design is intended to be as close as possible to the historical prototype. Matrenushka's grave will be illuminated by a spot light, the walls of the new structure will be covered will light silicon brick, and the roof will be covered with white tiles.
It is intended also to fortify the banks of the Neva along the territory of the annex and to build a paved area within it, lay out flower gardens, and plant bushes. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 5 March 2000)
On the inside of a time of troubles
Today in the cathedral of the Epiphany in Moscow thousands of Muscovites and guests will celebrate the name day of the patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus, Alexis II. At a different time and for different people the patriarch has described himself and his ministry. We have decided to sketch a portrait of the first postsoviet patriarch using his own words, however modest.
From the 1930s: ". . . One of my ancestors was a general and hero of the patriotic war of 1812; his portrait hangs in the Hermitage. My father's forebears were almost all graduates of the law school in St. Petersburg. My grandfather was a judge and my father also studied in this educational institution but he did not manage to graduate because of the revolution. He was forced to emigrate along with his family to Estonia. There he married a native of Estonia, Elena Pisareva. Our family was harmonious. Father dreamed of becoming a priest but he fulfilled his dream only in 1938. My parents never broke their spiritual ties with Russia. When I was a boy, we often visited the ancient Russian monasteries, the caves monastery of Pskov and Valaam. We spent vacations in the districts of Narva or Pechersky, where days of Russian culture were conducted."
1939: "We lived in the suburbs of Tallin; relatives had moved to our place since the war was going on. My parents put them up in our house and they themselves settled in a small room in a hut. The same night we also slept there. Our two dogs slept soundly while officers of NKVD were searching everywhere. They did not manage to find the hut. After this we could not spend the night in the house. The end of a peaceful life arrived with the establishment of soviet military bases on the territory of Estonia. Then came the occupation of Estonia and mass exiles to Siberia. People were picked up mainly in the nights. People were herded into produce train cars that were standing on the sidings. My fate could have developed quite differently if we had been taken to Siberia along with tens of thousands of exiled Russians and Estonians."
1941-1945: "We spent the entire time of the fascist occupation in Estonia. At the end of the war my father worked with soviet prisoners. The Germans brought them from various regions of Russia. There were camps in the Baltic port and in Kooga. Thousands of Russians were there. Every Sunday priests from churches of Tallin came to conduct services for them. In these resettlement camps I first began reading the Psalms, assisting my father. Estonia became a transhipment point for Russians being sent on to Germany. Many considered that inevitable death awaited them there. Thus a turn to faith and the support of priests were simply necessary for them. It was then that I met face to face for the first time human grief and suffering."
10 May 1990: "I recognize the difficulty and effort of the ministry ahead of me. My life, which since youth has been devoted to the ministry Christ's church, is approaching its twilight, but the sacred council has laid upon me the task of primatial ministry. I accept this election, but I ask that in these first minutes the blessed archpastors, honorable clergy, and the whole Russian flock beloved by God will assist me with their prayers and strengthen me in the ministry that is ahead. Today many problems are facing the church, society, and each one of us. Their solution requires collective reason and joint resolution and discussion at councils. The conciliar principle must be extended to the diocesan and parish life; only then will we resolve those problems which today face the church and society."
23 August 1991: "In the days which we have just now managed to get through, the period of our history which began in 1917 has been brought to an end by the counsel of God. In that far off time our land was turned red by blood, the great separation began, and the fratricidal war ended in the victory of rulers who declared themselves to be people and politicians of a 'new type.' Their innovations consisted in the destruction of all absolute moral principles, neglect of the spiritual sources and meaning of human existence, and the confidence that they would not ever bear responsibility for their own actions before neither God nor people."
May 1999: "Perhaps the most painful question of today is the moral condition of the present hierarchy and clergy. The heritage which we received from the bolshevik time is far from ideal. The Council on Religious Affairs, which at heart pursued atheistic goals and attempted to destroy the foundations of the faith, handled the selection of personnel. We constantly need to be filling church ranks with new priests. They are especially needed in the area of social service and religious education of the younger generation. It will take 15-20 years to train specialists for ministry in these areas. But can we really wait until the necessary specialists are trained? These critical problems must be resolved today. The church has lost that experience in the area of social ministry it had gained before the revolution. We are trying to resurrect church life in all of its variety. Our basic goal is not the restoration of churches or monasteries. It is important to help people restore their souls and to bring moral and spiritual healing in our sick society." (tr. by PDS)
(posted 3 March 2000)
LVIV, WESTERN UKRAINE, February 29, 2000 (UAOC) -- A crowd of mourners came out today to bid a final farewell to His Holiness, Patriarch Dmytrii, head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Police blocked the area around the Church of SS. Peter and Paul while the Patriarch's relatives, members of the clergy and city officials filled the church to capacity. Many more took part in the services from the street, paying homage to a man who was a strong and dedicated churchman in Ukraine for decades. Representatives of various churches, including the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of North & South America Sobornopravna, based in Cleveland, Ohio, attended the funeral.
An educated and scholarly man, Patriarch Dymytrii (Volodymyr Jarema) was a long time advocate of the Ukrainian Church and had experience working with such other church leaders as Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyj and Patriarch Mystyslav Skrypnyk. He was the author of numerous books and articles, among those, the four-volume work, "Ikons in Western Ukraine" and works on philosophy and religion. In 1993, he was elected Patriarch Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
Prior to the funeral, the body of Patriarch Dymytrii lay in state at the Dormition Church in Lviv until Sunday evening, when it was transferred to SS. Peter and Paul Church where it remained until the funeral.
Archbishop Ihor, of Karkiv and Poltava has been elected as Administrator of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine, until a Sobor is called to elect a new Patriarch. There is speculation surrounding a clause in Patriarch Dymytrii's Last Will and Testament indicating the desire that his successor be chosen from the Diaspora.
PATRIARCH DEMETRI DIES IN UKRAINE
The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of North & South America announces that His Holiness, Patriarch Demetri, head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine passed away on February 24.
Patriarch Demetri was the leader of one of two religious groups in Ukraine that use the name of Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine. The other church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate is headed by Patriarch Philaret. Talks have taken place in the last few years concerning unity among the two churches.
In 1996, when Patriarch Demetri left his position as Patriarch for a short time, due to political issues, the church was headed by Metropolitan Vasili Bodnarchuk, senior Metropolitan of the UAOC, who served as Acting Patriarch. It was then that Acting Patriarch, Metropolitan Vasili issued the tomos to establish the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of North & South America (Sobornopravna), headed by Metropolitan Stephan, with headquarters in Cleveland, OH, The UAOC Metropolia is an active and growing Ukrainian jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere.
As Patriarch of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Patriarch Demetri was a successor to Patriarch Mystylav, who first accepted the position of Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine in 1990, after Ukraine's independence. Begun in the 1920s, the worldwide Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church was outlawed in Ukriane by the Soviet government. The only church allowed to exist legally during that time was the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church.
May his memory be eternal! Vichnaya Pamyat!
(posted 3 March 2000)
MOSCOW. March 1 (Interfax) - The accusing tone of the U.S. State Department's annual human rights report is unacceptable, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
In the report's section on Russia, its authorities are blamed for a deteriorating situation concerning legal protection in several regions. The Russian authorities were accused of human rights violations during the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, the ministry said in a statement obtained by Interfax on Wednesday.
The U.S. State Department "used unreliable, specially selected information about the federal action in Chechnya," the statement reads.
The report "keeps quiet about the scale of illegal Chechen terrorist activity. It called for the Russian authorities to implement extraordinary measures to restore Constitutional order and protect Russia's territorial integrity," the statement reads.
"The State Department ignored the fact that the anti-terrorist operation was aimed at restoring human rights and legality in Chechnya."
"The accusing tone of the report is unacceptable, most notably its attacks on the Russian Orthodox Church leadership. It demonstrates the State Department's bias concerning the legal situation in Russia," the statement says. [RUSSIA section of report dealing with religion]
"Moreover, the report says nothing about the systematic and mass human rights violations of tens of thousands of people in Latvia and Estonia."
"The surprising thing is that the report does not have a section on the human rights situation in the United States. According to a lot of non-governmental organizations, it is far from perfect in the issues of the death penalty, racial discrimination and anti-Semitism," the statement reads.
(posted 2 March 2000)
ST. PETERSBURG. For more than ten years now, the church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in the city of St. Petersburg on Poklonnaia hill has included an active group of medical nurses who labor in the hospitals of the city. The nurses care for the sick voluntarily and without pay.
Congregations of Evangelical Christians-Baptists appeared in Petersburg at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries. This was the result of a spiritual awakening among the nobility. At the beginning of this century there were around thirty assemblies of Evangelical Christians and Baptists in Petersburg and Bible institutes were operating. After World War II the Leningrad congregation had its own prayer house in the district of the Okhta river. At the end of the sixties the district where the prayer house was located was reconstructed. The building itself was torn down and the church was give the premises of a former Orthodox church of the Holy Trinity in Ozerki. At the time this was a very remote district of the city. It was hard for believers to get to the meeting place. However soon this area was transformed into a well populated district with a subway and intrastructure. By their own efforts believers remodeled the church and straightened up the surrounding yard. The church of the Holy Trinity had been built according to the draft of the architect Tikhanov in 1900-1904. In 1979-1980 it was substantially restructured by the believers' themselves. At the time a new part of the building was made, including two balconies, choir loft, cross and a large platform. The prayer building accommodates 800 persons in the main area and three balconies.
At the present time the congregation has about 2000 members. The congregation has four choirs, a bell choir, dram group, and many Sunday school classes. In the basement of the church there is a pedagogical center for Sunday school classes and a Bible school. Here the required training is given to those who dedicate themselves to the work of preaching and teaching in the Sunday school. The church has its own library and printing press. It regularly published the newsletter "Vestnik" and the youth newspaper "Palm." The church works with street children and it has a registered shelter called "Ray of Hope." The personnel of the shelter are voluteers who are members of the church; they regularly feed meals to children and hold Bible classes for them. The church has three full-time presbyters and around forty deacons and preachers. Besides this it cares for twenty-eight regional churches and congregations that are members of the ECB Association of St. Petersburg and Leningrad province. The church is a member of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 2 March 2000)
St. Petersburg. A decision of the Dzerzhinsky federal court of the central district of St. Petersburg has gone into effect, denying satisfaction of the suit brought by a member of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, Marina Slobodian, against the newspaper "Novyi Peterburg" for protection of her honor and dignity. This was reported to an ITAR-TASS correpondent today at the federal court.
As a member of this organization and as its attorney, Marina Slobidian filed suit against the paper over publication of a letter from her father "Who will return my daughter and grandson to me?" He wrote that he had not seen his grandson for several years and could not communicate with him even by phone because of his daughter's prohibition. The reason for this, in his opinion, was his attack upon the organization in a televized film shown on the TV channel "Peterburg," in which he expressed concern over his grandson's destroyed childhood. M. Slobidian accused the newspaper of interference in her private life and use of the critical word "sect," which, in her opinion, violated her honor and dignity.
The judicial investigation went on about two years. The court came to the conclusion that the information reported in the mass media about Jehovah's Witnesses corresponded to reality. Having studied items from dictionaries and encyclopedias, the court also came to the conclusion that the use in the newspaper and television broadcast of the concept of "sect" is generally recognized and that it is used with respect to religious organizations that profess views of a narrow group of people in contrast to the overwhelming majority. Consequently it "cannot offend anybody's feelings," said the court's decision. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 1 March 2000)
The Russian Orthodox and the Armenian Apostolic Churches are moving towards a fraternal strengthening, cooperation and mutual respect between the Churches and the people of Russia and Armenia. This was announced by the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Aleksii II and the Catholicos of all Armenians Garegin II upon the completion of the dialogue which took place today at the Patriarchal residence in the Danilov monastery. "The ties of our brotherhood are mutually binding and the cooperation between our people and Churches brings even greater strength to the Armenian and Russian friendship" said the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. On his part Aleksii II noted that the cordial personal relations between the two leaders is another assurance of the devotion between the two Churches. It is notable that as a result of the Moscow dialogues Aleksii II and Garegin II reached an agreement to begin a theological dialogue between the Russian Orthodox and the Armenian Apostolic Churches. Furthermore the Patriarchs agreed to resume the tradition of an exchange of students between the Theological seminaries and members of Church delegations. In this connection it should be pointed out that the Catholicos of all Armenians himself completed studies at the Theological Academy in Zagorsk and his brother Hieromonk Ezras is the spiritual leader of the Armenians in St Petersburg.
Garegin II's official visit to Moscow will last until 2 March. The Catholicos of all Armenians is expected to meet with the Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials. (tr. by AS)
VLADIMIR PUTIN MET INFORMALLY WITH PATRIARCH ALEXIS II AND ARMENIAN
CATHOLICOS GAREGIN II
ITAR-TASS, 1 March
2000
MOSCOW, 1 March. Acting President of Russia Vladimir Putin attended today a reception which was given by Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus in the patriarchal chambers of the Kremlin in honor of the supreme patriarch and catholicos of all Armenians, Garegin II, who is visiting Russia. At the time of this informal meeting with the primates of the two churches, the head of state noted the importance of strengthening ties between the people of Russia and Armenia, which have lived for centuries in peace and harmony. This was reported to a correspondent of ITAR-TASS by the chief of staff of the Moscow patriarchath, Metropolitan Sergius of Solnechnogorsk, who attended the meeting.
In this regard Vladimir Putin noted the significance of the visit to Russia by the religious leader of Armenia and emphasized that the importance of the spiritual development of society on the basis of the eternal values of Christianity is recognized both in our country and in Armenia, which will lead to the moral health of the peoples living on the territory of both states.
The catholicos of all Armenians, Garegin II, said that his visit to Russia is intended to strengthen the warm relations between our churches, which flows from the centuries-long history of both nations and churches. And His Holiness Patriarch Alexis noted that both churches, which experienced the same path of sufferings in the tragic twentieth century, are united in the common attempt to return their nations to life in accordance with evangelical precepts.
The meeting was also attended by the ambassador of Armenia to the Russian federation, Suren Saakian. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 1 March 2000)
BARRIER ON THE ROAD TO CHURCH
by Viktoria Chutkova
Novaia gazeta, 20 December 1999
Analysts predict that the third world war will be a religious war. In Turkmenistan it already has begun. True, only one side is fighting: the state. The other side, religious minorities, are weakly defended, taking refuge in human rights, international conventions, and articles of the national constitution. This helps like an umbrella in a hailstorm.
The nineties will go into history textbooks as the decade of the totalitarian regime in Turkmenistan. The former calm asiatic republic is long gone. There is a state where the president is god, tsar, and hero. He is worshiped, he is feared, and he is adored. Because he is almighty. I think there is no need to explain what a cult of personality is. On the central square of Ashkabad there is a tall tower on top of which is the golden sculpture of the president Saparmurat Niiazov with arms raised to the heaven. The statue rotates, following the sun across the firmament. Although, excuse me, everything is the other way round. Foreign tourists and Turkmen children are told that it is he, Niiazov, who raises and sets the sun. In the past few years the president not only rules the dawn and twilight. He also tells the citizens of the country how to live and in whom to believe.
In Turkmenistan there exists a law "On freedom of conscience and religious organizations." It exists, but it does not operate. Russia's bad example is infectious and incurable. Back in 1994 a Council (gengesh) on Religious Affairs was created within the presidency. Its members included the chief mufti, an Orthodox dean of clergy, and one civil servant. The council received the monopoly on the right to formulate state policy in the area of religion. Members of the council are government officials and cabinet members with service vehicles. Nobody recalls Turkmenistan's constitution which clearly states: "Religious organizations are separated from the state and may not perform governmental functions." Politicians love to get sick. For example, sclerosis is a very wide-spread disease. With its eyes, ears, and hands the Gengesh on Religious Affairs became the Committee of National Security, the KHB of Turkmenia. In its black list were entered almost all religious societies operating in the republic: Christians-Baptists, Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Krishnaites, Bahai. Only representatives of Islam and the Russian Orthodox Chruch have not been subjected to persecution.
Even during the time of the all-glorious USSR religious minorities were treated more fairly. For example, at the end of the eighties, ten founding members were sufficient to register a society. At the beginning of the nineties, this figure was doubled. But in 1995 the president of Turkmenistan fixed in law the standard of 500 founding members, hoping thereby to liquidate the diversity of religious bodies in the republic. It did not work. Societies continued to exist illegally, like Marxist circles before the revolution. Followers of nontraditional confessions, consequently, found themselves "outside the law" and KNB engaged in the persecution of the infidels. Although according to the basic law itself of Turkmenistan, everyone has the right "to disseminate convictions associated with religious adherence and to participate in the conduct of religious worship, rituals, and rites." The security committee used operating methods like those shown in old films about gendarmes. Officers of KNB specialized in "preventive conversations": they came to congregational meetings and threatened the followers with harsh treatment. But before disclosing the purpose of the visit and their true face, the KNB men passed themselves off as people who were interested in the faith and they diligently attended classes.
Thus police officers arrived at a meeting of the Ashkhabad congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. One of them, a major, kept asking: "Who is this Jehovah? What is his family name? Where does he live?" They figured out who he was from his service hat. Overt adherents of Hinduism suffered for their faith like ancient martyrs. Some were publicly insulted by highly place bureaucrats and others had their philosophical and religious literature (the chief source of the society's income) confiscated by KNB officers, still others were dismissed from work for religious reasons and others were entirely expelled from the country if they would not renounce "their religion and traditions."
Not a word about freedom of conscience. Some Turkmen officials saw in the activity of one of the religious associations, the Society of Krishna Consciousness, an attempt at "creation of an illegal military formation" and a clear threat to the existing state structure. This is a matter of the criminal code. By decision of the Council on Religious Affairs, this past summer a Krishnaite house of prayer (which incidentally was built on private property) was torn down near the Turkmen city of Mara. The land was confiscated. The remains of the construction materials were distributed to the local population. In Russia politicans take part in the laying of cornerstones. In Turkmenistan there are different traditions. Chairman of the Gengesh, Murad Karryev, by one bureaucratic flourish demolished a building to its foundation, not leaving one stone upon another.
These people are hoping for some respect. But in vain. They love liberators and protectors; they hate fools and tyrants. The leader of the Mara group of Krishnaites, Allamurad Rakhimov, sent a letter of protest to President Niiazov: "The destruction of the house of prayer was the logical culmination of the explicitly anticonstitutional policy of recent years directed against religious minorities, especially against people who confess Hinduism." The document was sent to the Turkmen embassy in Moscow but only two months later did it make its way through the bureaucratic pillboxes and minefields to reach its intended destination, the ministry of foreign affairs of the republic. However, this could hardly change anything now. According to existing legislation the Society of Krishna Consciousness, like many other religious minorities, is an illegal society.
A new law "On religion" will not be adopted in the near future.
That means that the conditions for existence remain as before. Like the
bounds of illegality. For five years now, in fulfilment of a special
order of the president and 300 Muslim leaders, at the end of the prayer
after meals the imam is obliged to recite the "sacred words": "Almighty
Allah, bestow success on our beloved homeland and our revered president
Saparmurat Turkmenbashi in all undertakings." Moreover, according
to evidence of former tourists in Turkmenistan, before the start of classes
school children recite something like an oath: "may my tongue be
parched if I say anything against the president and may my hand wither,"
etc. Children are taught to pray to another god. Not the Muslim one nor
the Christian. But to the golden idol which stands in the central square.
Has someone said something about a coming religious war? In Turkmenistan
it has already been lost. (tr. by PDS)
TURKMEN AUTHORITIES RAID PROTESTANT MEETING
Newsroom, 1 March 2000
29 February 2000 (Newsroom) -- Turkmen authorities raided a Protestant house-church meeting on February 23 in Bezmein near the capital Ashgabad, according to the Keston News Service.
Worshipers at the service told Keston that they were interrogated and warned not to meet again under threat of criminal prosecution. Witnesses say that National Security Committee (KNB) police and local police officers and officials conducted the raid.
Keston reports that in a phone call on Tuesday an official at the KNB headquarters in Ashgabad denied that the raid took place. Church members at the meeting, however, said that police abruptly entered the house and began searching without a warrant. Literature was confiscated, and the worshipers were taken to another building for interrogation, Guzelya Syrayeva told Keston. The officials told the worshipers, she said, that the meeting violated Article 205 of the Administrative Code -- a law dating back to the Soviet era that punishes "violations of legislation on religious associations."
Under the Central Asian republic's 1996 amendment to its law on religion, a congregation must have at least 500 adult Turkmen citizens before it can even apply for reregistration. Only the Russian Orthodox and the officially sanctioned Sunni Muslims have been able to reregister under the new law. Religious minorities, including Baptists, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, and members of the Baha'i faith have been frequent targets of raids, and many believers have been fined. Authorities destroyed two Hare Krishna temples and an Adventist church last year.
At least four Baptists were arrested in February for their activities with unregistered churches. Last August an ethnic convert to Christianity in the port town of Turkmenbashi was fined and sentenced to four years in prison on charges that members of his Baptist congregation say are fraudulent. Local Christians insist that Shagildy Atakov's punishment was designed to halt his preaching activity in the congregation.
Last year President Niyazov promised to permit registration of almost all religious groups by September 1999, but no action has been taken. Promises also were made by senior officials to press for reduction of the requirement that all groups have at least 500 members.
According to the U.S. State Department's 1999 human rights report, released last Friday, Turkmenistan applies its 500-member standard on a local and regional basis. A representative of a major Christian religious group was told in 1998, for example, that the group must have 500 adherents in Ashgabad and another 500 in Turkmenbashi to be legal in each of those cities.
Reliable statistics on religious affiliation are not available, the State Department report said, but about 88 percent of Turkmenistan's 4 million people -- mostly ethnic Turkmen -- are nominally Muslim. Recent figures indicate that about 9 percent of the population is Russian, but many Russians have left Turkmenistan since the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 90s. Most Russians belong to the Orthodox Church.
TURKMENISTAN CRUSHES BAPTIST LEADERS, VIOLATED FREEDOM OF RELIGION GUARANTEES
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Compass Direct has reported that authorities in Turkmenistan arrested two Baptist pastors on December 16-17, and raided Baptist churches in Chardjou, Mary, Turkmenbashy and Ashgabat. This latest assault on freedom of religion in Turkmenistan occurred while staff of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, were in Ashgabat meeting with government officials and representatives of various religious groups.
"Turkmenistan is the most repressive police state of the former Soviet Union," said Commission Chairman Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ). "The government of President Saparmurat Niyazov, the Dictator of Turkmenistan, violates all human rights commitments the country has committed itself to observe. There is no freedom of the press, no freedom of assembly or association, and the government jails anyone who dares to voice the slightest criticism of official policies or express independent views. In one particularly flagrant example, police arrested democracy activist and former parliamentarian Mr. Pirimguli Tanrykuliev while he was lunching with the U.S. Embassy's human rights officer, and in August sentenced him to eight years imprisonment on trumped-up charges."
Turkmenistan's government also refuses to register any religious confessions except for official Islam and the Russian Orthodox Church, and threatens members of other faiths with dismissal from their jobs, imprisonment, or worse. Security organs actually bulldozed a Seventh-Day Adventist church in Ashgabat in November after having previously destroyed a Hare Krishna Ashram.
"Turkmenistan is the only country in the former Soviet Union where houses of worship have been demolished," said Commission Ranking Member Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD). "These continuing outrages cannot fail to have an extremely negative impact on U.S.-Turkmen relations."
Turkmen officials told Commission staff that stringent requirements for registration would be lightened and pressure on religious groups would ease after decisions expected at the end of year. "Obviously, such assurances are totally unreliable," said Smith. "In 1999, the Commission held hearings on human rights and democratization in Kazakstan and Uzbekistan. When Congress comes back into session, we will hold a hearing on the deplorable state of affairs in Turkmenistan, and examine all possible means of leverage on the despotic regime of President Niyazov."
SOURCE Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
(posted 1 March 2000)
If material is quoted, please give credit to the publication
from which it came.
It is not necessary to credit this Web page. If material
is transmitted electronically, please include reference to the URL, http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.