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DE RUEHAH #0289/01 0610749
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 010749Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
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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