TURKMENISTAN: DASHOGUZ RELIGIOUS GROUP TWO STEPS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000866 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL/IRF E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: DASHOGUZ RELIGIOUS GROUP TWO STEPS FURTHER IN REGISTRATION PROCESS Classified By: CDA RICHARD E. HOAGLAND: 1.4(b),(d) ¶1. (C) Shokhrat Shirmedov, a leader of the Turkmen Baptist Church in Dashoguz, told EmbOff on July 10 that both the local provincial Council on Religious Affairs (CRA) office and the central CRA office in Ashgabat had informed him about two and a half months ago that they had approved the church's application for registration and that the application would be forwarded for the final approval to the Ministry of Justice. Shirmedov said that the provincial officials were predicting that the church would shortly be receiving its registration papers. However, the Ministry of Justice returned the application about a month ago with a list of new "corrections" to the registration application that would need to be made before it would be willing to reconsider the church's application. While frustrated, Shirmedov -- who until a week ago was traveling in Kazakhstan -- plans to meet with the Deputy Chairman of the national CRA to solicit his advice. He also plans to write a letter to the Chairman of the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, Shirin Akhmedova, asking for her assistance. ¶2. (C) Shirmedov reported that, over the last year, his church has changed its strategy in working with the provincial CRA. It now sends the office notice of any activities ahead of time -- as it would have to do anyway if it were registered -- and has taken to meeting in smaller groups to draw less attention to the church. The result, he said, is that the church's relations with the provincial CRA have improved and there has been less harassment of church members than used to be the case. However, he added, it is clear that the authorities still continue to monitor the church and its leaders, albeit less openly. ¶3. (C) COMMENT: Post believes that the church's efforts to improve its relations with the local authorities may be one of the reasons that it is experiencing less harassment and -- apparently -- more support for its registration efforts from the local CRA. While the church remains unregistered, it's notable there has been no recent harassment of its members and Shirmedov himself seems to be experiencing no difficulties traveling abroad. Just a bit more than a year ago, the church was reeling from a raid on its pastor (Shirmedov's father) and an episode in which a suspected Ministry of National Security plain-clothes policeman absconded with Shirmedov's papers while he was traveling internally. We hope that the Ministry of Justice will agree soon to register Shirmedov's church, but in the meantime, the tacit understanding that the church has established with the local CRA seems to be allowing it to proceed unhindered with most of its activities. END COMMENT. HOAGLAND