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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000219 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN; DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2020 
TAGS: KIRF PHUM PGOV TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: BAPTISTS UNDER PRESSURE IN VILLAGES 
IN LEBAP PROVINCE 
 
REF: ASHGABAT 31 
 
Classified By: Charge Sylvia Reed Curran, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  Four Baptist leaders of nonregistered church 
groups in rural Lebap Province described interfaith tension 
and official harrassment in their respective villages. 
According to the pastors, there is growing Baptist presence, 
but local officials and Muslim leaders are actively 
discouraging people from joining the Baptist groups.  The 
official line prohibits group meetings and proselytizing, 
however groups no larger that 20 persons manage to gather in 
homes without being disrupted.  In addition to Islamic 
religious leaders issuing warnings against involvement with 
Christians, there were cases of school directors 
interrogating children about their religious activities and 
threatening them with being ostracized and expulsion.  During 
a dispute over the burial of a Baptist woman, the province's 
chief imam reportedly called for the Christians in that 
village to be "killed like dogs."  The pastors reported that 
their groups are growing, despite the pressure, but the tense 
situation shows no sign of abating.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C) During a February 2 visit to Turkmenabat in eastern 
Turkmenistan, poloff met with the leaders of four 
village-based Baptist groups to discuss their activities and 
conditions for worship.  Narmyrat Mominov leads a group in 
Galkynysh District.  The local administrative authorities 
publicly warn residents against non-Muslims.  Officials told 
one church attendee that the police keep the pastor under 
surveillance, trying to scare her and others away from the 
group.  Authorities have also told people that they have no 
right to gather or to proselytize, only to practice religion 
by themselves.  According to Pastor Narmyrat, being told that 
they violate the law frightens people.  The local imam has 
told people that they are not allowed to discuss God, even in 
their own homes.  65-70 people gather for worship on 
Christian holidays, but they travel to the city of Seidi and 
meet in a private house because it is easier to meet in the 
city. 
 
¶3. (C) Pastor Narmyrat had studied in Ashgabat, where he was 
introduced to Baptist beliefs.  This occurred during the 
1990s when missionaries were still allowed in the country. 
After finishing his studies, he returned to his home village 
outside of Turkmenabat.  He has since completed one year of 
studies at a bible school in Almaty.  Local authorities 
accuse him of being a spy.  His group has not tried to 
register with the government.  A few years ago, when 
challenged by the authorities, his group showed a copy of the 
registration document for the Baptist church in Ashgabat. 
The authorities backed off that one time, but later said the 
document was only valid in Ashgabat.  Pastor Narmyrat said he 
wants to talk with Pastor Korobov of the Ashgabat church 
about obtaining legal status as a branch of the Ashgabat 
church (reftel). 
 
¶4. (C) Group members face constant pressure, including 
threats, jokes and unpleasant remarks about Christians. 
Pastor Narmyrat explained that to obtain registration, the 
group would need to submit a list of its members' names. 
People are afraid to be included because both they and their 
parents would likely lose their jobs.  According to Narmyrat, 
getting a job requires paying a bribe of at least USD 500. 
 
¶5. (C) According to Pastor Zarif, whose group is located in a 
village on the Azatlyk Farmers' Union in Serdarabat District, 
a maximum of 20 people gather at one time in a house.  (NOTE: 
About 10,000 people typically reside on the territory of a 
farmers' union, which is made up of villages with between 
2,000-3,000 residents.  END NOTE)  More than 20 participants 
is not possible because the police would come.  When a group 
becomes larger, it is divided.  Pastor Zarif estimated that 
only ten percent of believers gather.  Others are afraid of 
consequences, or their parents or spouses do not allow them 
 
ASHGABAT 00000219  002 OF 003 
 
 
to attend.  He said they suffer from a shortage of Turkmen 
language bibles, although they can sometimes get five or six 
copies.  At their gatherings they play music from a computer, 
as well as accompaniment by a dutar (a traditional Turkmen 
string instrument) and traditional dance.  Pastor Zarif said 
services are generally conducted in a manner consistent with 
Turkmen culture, with participants seated on the floor.  He 
noted that the situation for his group became better after 
some minority religious groups were allowed to register in 
¶2004.  While officials currently make public threats to 
discourage people from attending the group's gatherings, 
there have not been any threats that targeted individuals. 
Pastor Zarif stated that people are allowed to believe and 
worship as individuals, but not to gather or proselytize. 
The farmers' union director will not lease land to known 
Christians, another reason that many believers are not open 
about their faith because they are afraid they would lose 
their land. 
 
¶6. (C) Pastor Hudayberdi's village is located in the Amu 
Darya Farmer's Union in Halachi District.  His church meets 
in house groups numbering from 5-15 people, with one group of 
¶30.  Pastor Hudayberdi explained that after Christmas and the 
school break, the school director summoned the Baptist 
children and asked them about how they celebrated and what 
they ate.  The children sang some Christmas songs for the 
director.  He then told them that if they repeated such 
activities, they would be kicked out of school.  Pastor 
Hudayberdi said the chief imam for Lebap Province is opposed 
to the Baptist groups and looks for a reason to suppress 
them.  In the summer of 2009, a group of provincial imams 
came to a funeral arranged for a Baptist woman who had been 
killed in an auto accident.  The chief provincial imam did 
not want the woman to be buried according to Muslim 
tradition, nor would he allow a Christian burial.  The imam 
asserted that the woman had betrayed the Muslim faith. 
According to the pastors, the chief imam tried to incite the 
villagers, openly urging them "to kill the Christians like 
dogs."  The imam also remarked that the Baptists had "sold 
themselves to America."  The corpse remained unburied for 
three days.  Eventually, the person responsible for the 
woman's death, out of a sense of guilt, asked his relative 
who was a mullah to perform the burial.  Following the 
burial, the mullah was told that if he did that again, he 
would be in trouble.  Following the burial, the chief imam 
sent a message to all the districts emphasizing that 
Christians were bad people. 
 
¶7. (C) Also on the Amu Darya Farmer's Union, but in a 
different village, Pastor Rakhim remarked that his group 
faces the same problems as the others.  Everyone in the 
village knows who the Christians are.  "All kinds of slander 
circulates, that Christians are egoists, subjects of 
hypnotism, or paid to join."  False accusations are also made 
to government officials.  The group has about 100 members, 
who meet in family services, in a women's group, and 
sometimes in a park "like partisans."  So far, they have not 
been caught.  Pastor Rakhim also mentioned that the children 
from Baptist families were questioned by their school 
director.  He wanted to know what kind of literature they had 
at home, who came to their houses, how many people came and 
which day.  The director told that children that if they did 
not give up Christianity, no one would talk to them.  When 
the parents asked the school director why he was asking such 
questions, he responded that he had pressure from above.  A 
teacher who was not a Baptist was fired because his brother 
was a believer.  When a Baptist family wants to hold a 
wedding, the farmers' union will not give permission to 
borrow tables and dishes, which are typically loaned for such 
large events. 
 
¶8. (C) Despite the difficulties, the pastors affirmed that 
people continue to come to their groups and the number is 
growing.  A lot more women than men participate.  They 
thought the gender imbalance might be cultural, with men 
 
ASHGABAT 00000219  003 OF 003 
 
 
concerned about upholding a traditional image of the Turkmen 
male.  The pastors also mentioned that women members had told 
them they attend the church because of its message of love, a 
word that they never heard from either their parents or their 
husbands. 
 
¶9. (C) COMMENT:  This meeting gave us our first real 
knowledge about the growth of small Christian groups in 
Turkmen villages.  The pastors mentioned that Christianity is 
also attracting adherents in Dashoguz province. 
Nevertheless, while growing in numbers, we are still talking 
about handfuls of people in an overwhelmingly Muslim nation. 
While the pastors had first been exposed to Christianity by 
missionaries during the 1990s, the growth of Christian groups 
in the villages appears to be generated internally.  The 
pastors acknowledged that this religious split creates 
tension in these villages on a daily basis.  It seems that 
there are some authorities, both Islamic and secular, intent 
on repressing Christian beliefs, even to the point of 
inciting inter-faith violence.  While none of the pastors 
reported instances of attacks against Christians in their 
villages, these villages could see potential interfaith 
conflict.  END COMMENT 
CURRAN