TURKMENISTAN: SMALL PENTECOSTAL GROUP FACES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000838

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN; DRL/IRF

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2019
TAGS: KIRF PGOV SCUL SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: SMALL PENTECOSTAL GROUP FACES
BUREAUCATIC OBSTACLES

REF: ASHGABAT 723

Classified By: Charge Richard Miles, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY. Despite a long history of Pentecostalism in
Turkmenistan dating back to the 1940s, the current Full
Gospel Church is a small, scattered group that meets in its
members' homes. Registered since 2004, the group is
currently in the process of re-registering due to changes in
its leadership and legal address. Its members do not openly
proselytize and a stockpile of Bibles from the 1990s still
meet their need for religious literature. While the group
has not suffered any particular difficulties from government
officials, if it decides to operate more openly, authorities
might become more diligent in imposing restrictions. END
SUMMARY.


2. (C) On June 29, poloff met with Pastor Ali Nuryev of the
Full Gospel Church. He lives in Annau, a town five miles
outside of Ashgabat. The group is the remnant of a once much
larger Pentecostal presence dating back to the post-WWII era,
although its members suffered persecution throughout the
Soviet period. In Ashgabat, the group was mostly ethnic
Russian, while in Mary there was a large Turkmen membership.
In post independence Turkmenistan, the group was denied
registration in 1995, but finally was able to register in

2004. At that time, Nuryev's predecessor was the group's
leader. When he left Turkmenistan in 2007, Nuryev took his
place. In April 2008, the church submitted re-registration
documents to include the new pastor, the group's new legal
address and meeting place (both of which were the previous
leader's home address). The Council on Religious Affairs
held the documents for one year, finally approving them and
passing them to the Ministry of Justice in May. Nuryev
pointed out that his predecessor was ethnic Russian, and that
since he is an ethnic Turkmen, the authorities might be more
reluctant to approve the group's documents due to a bias that
Turkmen should be Muslims.


3. (C) According to Nuryev, registration for a religious
group involves separate registrations with three government
agencies: the Ministry of Justice (MOJ),the State Commission
for Statistics and the Unified State Register. Registration
at both the MOJ and the Statistics Commission does not
expire, but registration at the State Register is valid for
only four years, so the group's registration expired in April

2008. Registration with the State Register allows a group to
have a bank account. According to Nuryev, when looking for
premises to rent, a landlord cares only about the group's
State Registry approval since that is needed in order for him
to get paid. He was pressing the MOJ to provide him with a
letter saying the group's documentation was submitted,
averring that such a letter would resolve any difficulties
about the group's legal status with local authorities. Once
the re-registration issue is resolved, Nuryev plans to rent
space for the church in Ashgabat. The reason for this is that
if the government cracks-down on religious groups, the
presence of diplomatic missions and international
organizations would minimize the impact, which would not be
the case in the provinces.


4. (C) The Full Gospel Church does not have a public meeting
place, but gathers in small groups at the homes of its
adherents. Nuryev estimated the group's total membership
throughout Turkmenistan at 50. He asserted that despite the
church's status as a religious group, as opposed to a
religious organization, it has the right to establish
branches all over Turkmenistan with no further registration
requirements. In addition to Ashgabat and Annau, he
mentioned that the group has members in Turkmenabat,
Tokhtabazar, Kipchak and Turkmenbashy. Nuryev said that they
meet in apartments, and therefore have had no problems. He
suggested that the authorities might not be aware of their
activities. Nuryev said church members try to be discrete.


ASHGABAT 00000838 002 OF 002



5. (C) Nuryev has no formal theological training, although
prior to his involvment with this church, he attended the
Greater Grace Church in Ashgabat (reftel) and enrolled in
some of its video bible courses. He said religious training
for a church leader is not a legal requirement for
registration. Although Nuryev has had contact with
Pentecostals outside Turkmenistan, especially by attending
conferences in Turkey, his group receives no outside material
support. The group needs to have current registration in
order to invite foreign guests. He commented that the CRA
does not like to deal with him because he speaks like a
lawyer (by profession he works in the financial services
sector) and knows his rights. "When you break the law, you
don't want to talk about it, and the CRA breaks the law."
The group still has a supply of Bibles, acquired many years
ago in the immediate post-independence period. They are
stored at his apartment, which he acknowledged is somewhat
risky. He has been able to bring religious DVDs when
returning from trips outside Turkmenistan, saying that his
baggage was not inspected. The group does not proselytize
openly, but spreads its message through personal contacts
with friends and acquaintances.


6. (C) COMMENT: Despite waiting one year for the CRA to
forward his group's registration documents to the MOJ, Nuryev
seemed neither bothered by the delay nor pessimistic about
prospects for re-registration. As has been the case with
other leaders of minority religious groups, their experiences
and understandings of legal requirements vary significantly.
Nuryev was the first to mention the triple registration
process, or the fact that the registration of a religious
group numbering less than 50 members is valid throughout the
country. Likewise, formal theological training, which he
lacks, has been an issue for at least one other group.
Perhaps none of this currently matters to Nuryev because,
despite his group's registered status, they function on a
very small scale and, for all practical purposes, like an
underground church. If the group decides to operate more
openly and hold public meetings, authorities might by more
diligent in imposing restrictions. END COMMENT.

MILES