VZCZCXRO4106
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #0496 1130506
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 220506Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0638
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3656
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 1474
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1341
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 1910
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 2429
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000496 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN; DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI KIRF TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  MUSLIM TOUR GUIDE AT GYPJAK MOSQUE 
CHALLENGES NON-ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS BELIEF 
 
 
¶1.  (U)  Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  A visit to the Gypjak Mosque revealed 
that at least one of the Muslim religious students charged by 
the government to show visitors around such official 
government mosques may be showing signs of a more fervent and 
conservative religious belief than in the past.  A testy 
religious discussion with a young tour guide suggests their 
education may be veering away from officially-supported 
views.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (U)  PolOff took a visitor out to the Gypjak Mosque on 
April 18 to get a look at Central Asia's largest mosque and 
see Niyazov's well-guarded family mausoleum.  As usual, a 
guide for the mosque materialized as we entered and initially 
reviewed the usual facts and statistics about the mosque's 
construction.  The mosque still has quotes from the Ruhnama 
inscribed on the minarets outside and on the interior of the 
building around the dome.  However, the Ruhnama is no longer 
displayed or studied at the mosque, according to the guide. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  We were surprised, then, when our teen-aged guide 
asked us in a gentle tone if we were Christians.  When we 
responded in the affirmative, he surprised us with a flurry 
of well-considered questions about Christianity.  Was 
Christianity a monotheistic faith?  If so, how did we explain 
Christian faith in Jesus Christ, who was described as a son 
of God?  When his questions were not sufficiently answered, 
he took a new tack. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Muslims have the Qu'ran, and Christians have the 
bible, he stated.  Why then, he asked, were there so many 
versions of the bible, and why were the versions so different 
from each other?  (NOTE:  He apparently believed that there 
was only one version of the Qu'ran.  END NOTE.)  After 
hearing the response that there were complicated reasons for 
this, he then asked why Muslims were always represented as 
terrorists in American films.  EmbOff responded that people 
of many faiths, including millions of Muslims, live and work 
in the United States, and that such representations occurred 
only in some movies. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  Post has brought many visitors to this 
mosque, and there has always been an officially-sanctioned 
guide who would limit his commentary to describing the 
mosque's features and the numbers of guests it has hosted. 
Never before, however, has the guide sought to engage us in a 
substantive doctrinal discussion of Islam versus 
Christianity.  It appeared that this young guide either had 
the opportunity to read some literature on the Internet or 
had been influenced by a Muslim cleric who may have less 
moderate/tolerant view of religion than is standard practice 
here.  Either option would constitute a change regarding what 
young Muslim students might be learning, and where they are 
learning it.  END COMMENT. 
HOAGLAND