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RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2374

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000408 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL/IRF 
USAID/W FOR EE/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/20/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI KIRF TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  LEADER OF UNREGISTERED RELIGIOUS 
GROUP STILL HASSLED IN MARY -- BUT REGISTRATION ADVANCES 
 
Classified By: Charge Richard E. Hoagland for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
¶1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  The leader of an unregistered evangelical 
religious group in the city of Mary has been banned from 
traveling outside of Turkmenistan, and his home raided -- and 
religious material seized -- by security authorities in the 
middle of a religious meeting.  Meanwhile, the Council of 
Religious Affairs has forwarded his application for 
registration of a religious group to the Ministry of Justice 
-- a significant step towards obtaining registration.  In 
this society of great transition and contradiction, it is 
clear not all authorities are on the same page or 
transitioning at the same pace.  END SUMMARY. 
 
PASTOR BARRED FROM TRAVEL 
 
¶2.  (C) Ilmyrat Nurlyyev and his wife, Maya, lead a branch of 
the Turkmen Baptist Church in the city of Mary.  On March 27, 
they told visiting EmbOff that security authorities took 
Ilmyrat off of a plane that was to depart for Minsk on 
November 11, 2007.  In April 2007 -- during the time when 
Turkmen citizens still needed border permits to visit 
Dashoguz -- the authorities made him return directly to Mary 
on the train after arriving in Dashoguz.  The Nurlyyevs said 
the Turkmen Immigration Service told them that the Ministry 
of National Security (MNB, ex-KGB) refuses to allow Ilmyrat 
to travel to Ukraine for a friend's wedding in April.  They 
asked if post would intervene so that he could obtain 
permission.  Ilmyrat also asked for post's assistance in 
inviting a Ukrainian pastor to Turkmenistan. 
 
OSCE IS INVOLVED IN HIS PROTESTS 
 
¶3.  (C) The Organization for Security and Cooperation in 
Europe (OSCE) helped Ilmyrat to prepare a January 21 letter 
for the Turkmen Immigration Service about the status of his 
freedom to travel.  He has not yet received a reply.  Ilmyrat 
has also sent complaint letters to the Prosecutor General 
regarding the lack of a response to his requests to visit 
Ukraine.  When asked if he wasn't concerned about not being 
allowed to return to Turkmenistan, Ilmyrat replied that the 
MNB had indeed made threats that they would throw him out of 
the country. 
 
STILL NO CHURCH REGISTRATION...BUT THERE IS MOVEMENT 
 
¶4.  (C) The Nurlyyevs submitted documents necessary for 
church registration in February 1997 -- with last corrections 
to the application submitted in June 2007.  The Council on 
Religious Affairs sent a letter to the Nurlyyevs dated March 
3 stating that the Council has forwarded the registration 
application to the Ministry of Justice. 
 
SECURITY AUTHORITIES DISRUPT MEETINGS AND ATTEMPT TO MEDDLE 
 
¶5.  (C) Fifteen people from the mayor's office, MNB, police, 
and city housing office arrived during a religious meeting at 
the Nurlyyev's apartment on February 10, demanding to know 
why the group was holding a meeting in light of its 
unregistered status.  The officials seized 124 DVDs and four 
VHS cassettes, which they have not yet returned.  Following 
Nurlyyev's complaint letter about this seizure, the mayor's 
office called him in to tell him that "experts" were 
reviewing the DVDs.  Associates of the family are looking out 
for them, however, and the Nurlyyevs are grateful that their 
neighbors did not report them to security authorities.  The 
MNB also visited Maya's boss to try to have her fired, but 
her boss said that she has been an exemplary employee at the 
cotton factory for 25 years, and she kept her job.  The 
Nurlyyevs keep church books at home, but keep Russian- and 
Turkmen-language Bibles in a separate location in case 
security authorities search their home.  They carry on with 
 
ASHGABAT 00000408  002 OF 002 
 
 
their lives with the knowledge that their home is bugged and 
that they are followed. 
 
ASPIRATIONS FOR DOING SERVICE IN THE COMMUNITY 
 
¶6.  (C) The Nurlyyevs emphasize that their conversion to 
Christianity does not mean that they have turned their back 
on Turkmen culture or people.  Noting his previous experience 
and success in rehabilitating drug addicts in his home, 
Ilmyrat said that he would like to open a drug rehabilitation 
center, for which he would not need money from the government 
-- but he would need a space. 
 
¶7.  (C) COMMENT:  Post sees the receipt of the letter from 
the Council of Religious Affairs which states that Ilmyrat 
Nurlyyev's application for registration of a religious group 
has been forwarded to the Ministry of Justice for 
consideration as encouraging.  Nevertheless, the continued 
harassment of the Nurlyyevs by local officials needs to stop. 
 Turkmenistan is a country in transition on multiple levels, 
and not all levels are undergoing transition at the same 
pace.  And not all officials -- especially at local levels, 
who are more accustomed to an enforcer role -- feel 
comfortable with change.  However, brave people like the 
Nurlyyevs and their friends and colleagues who continue 
quietly, patiently to insist on their rights are the future 
of Turkmenistan as a normal country. END COMMENT. 
HOAGLAND