TURKMENISTAN: CENTRAL ASIAN CATHOLIC LEADERS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000289 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: CENTRAL ASIAN CATHOLIC LEADERS GATHER TO ASSIST CHURCH DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Catholic Church leaders from all over Central Asia were in Ashgabat for a week, sharing and comparing their experiences, successes and challenges in legalizing and expanding their activities in this Muslim-dominated part of the world. They exchanged views on how to advance the Turkmen Catholic Church's stalemated effort to register, using lessons learned in the other Central Asian states. Although the government's Council on Religious Affairs received them hospitably, no one is assuming that registration, whenever that might happen, will solve all of the church's challenges in Turkmenistan. There is a growing sense among Catholic leaders, however, that international pressure, combined with the Turkmen president's stated goal of bringing the country into compliance with international human rights norms, is raising the likelihood that the Catholic Church could be registered in the near term. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (SBU) Fourteen Roman Catholic Church officials from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and the Vatican's senior diplomatic representative for Turkmenistan met with priests here for a week beginning on February 16. While the gathering was publicly called a religious retreat, the representatives gathered to compare notes, reconnect spiritually, and brainstorm ways to facilitate the church's legal registration and to normalize its operations in Turkmenistan. There are some differences in how the church is able to operate in the various countries. For example, the Catholic Church has been able to register and operate relatively freely in Kazakhstan. It has been the most tightly contained and restricted in Turkmenistan. ¶4. (SBU) Over the course of the week spent in Ashgabat, the group met privately to exchange information about their experiences, which included some discussion about the church's efforts to legally register as a religious group in Turkmenistan. Several of the bishops attending told EmbOff that that they were comparing notes in an effort to find what works and does not work in dealing with the various governments. Father Andrej, the senior priest for the church in Turkmenistan, provided EmbOffs some of the highlights of 
the retreat. He said Turkmenistan is the only country in Central Asia where the Catholic Church is not a legally-registered religious entity. Its dual position as a diplomatic representation for the Vatican has, in part, allowed the church to operate on a modest scale with a minimal footprint. However, it will never be able to grow or to build facilities without registration. (NOTE: Although the church is registered in the other Muslim-dominated Central Asian states, it continues to experience varying levels of cultural bias, bureaucratic discrimination, and harassment in those countries. The Catholic Church has thrived and expanded most in Kazakhstan, where the government has been the most proactive in fostering good relations with religious entities. END NOTE.) ¶5. (SBU) While the Catholic Church has had adherents in Turkmenistan since at least 1900, it was ousted from Turkmen territory after the Russian Revolution, and was able to re-establish a small presence here only in 1997. For the last several years, it has repeatedly applied for registration as a legal religious organization as mandated by Turkmenistan's Law on Religion, but stringent government requirements and the church's own inflexibility on some requirements, such as the stipulation that the church be headed by a Turkmen citizen, have put the process at an impasse. ¶6. (SBU) Father Andrej said his office had made every effort to make the Turkmen government aware of the group's intention to come and what its activities would be, in the ASHGABAT 00000289 002 OF 002 hopes that providing this transparency would ease any government concerns. Quite unexpectedly, the government extended an invitation to the group to meet with senior members of the Council on Religious Affairs. Father Andrej described the meeting as generally positive. Council Deputy Nurmuhammet Gurbanov told the church representatives that Turkmenistan was going to be working with the U.S. government to reform its law on the registration of religious groups, as part of the country's effort to fulfill its international human rights obligations. (NOTE: An expert with USAID implementing partner ICNL will assist the Turkmenistan government in revising the Law on Religion. END NOTE.) ¶7. (SBU) The Catholic representatives also had a first-time opportunity to interact with Russian Orthodox Father Andrey Sapunov, who is a Deputy Chairman on the Council on Religious Affairs, during the meeting. Although he is the single Christian representative sitting on the Council, the Catholic group became convinced by his cool and distant attitude toward them that he would never be an advocate for the church inside the Council. (NOTE: Father Andrej reported one other interaction with Sapunov. Some time ago, the Catholic administration in Kazakhstan sent 20 copies of a Catholic publication through the mail. When Turkmen post officials sent him to ask Sapunov at the Council to provide written permission to receive such material, Sapunov rejected his request. END NOTE.) As the meeting came to an end, Gurbanov half-jokingly asked if, after 11 years of residency here, Father Andrej could become a Turkmen citizen so that the church could be registered, but Father Andrej did not respond. ¶8. (SBU) COMMENT: Gatherings such as this retreat, where church officials from around Central Asia were able to use their experiences from elsewhere to brainstorm on resolving challenges in Turkmenistan will be valuable as the church considers its next steps. Although it is standing its ground firmly on what it will or will not do to acquire registration, the church appears to be wearing down government opposition by demonstrating complete transparency in its activities and by displaying supreme patience with the bureaucracy. The surprising invitation from the Council on Religious Affairs is a positive sign. END COMMENT. HOAGLAND