about
Turkmenistan
Estimated number of Christians 2000 indigenous Christians.
Major sources of oppression & persecution
The government and local authorities, Russian Orthodox Church, Islamic groups, President Niyazov cult, Council of Religious Affairs. The majority of Turkmen are Muslim, although the real allegiance was to the last President, who died in December 2006.
Turkmenbashi, the self proclaimed leader of all Turkmens, was a dictator like no other.
The eccentricity of his rule, the golden statues he had built to himself and bizarre decrees he used to issue, have always succeeded at taking the world’s attention away from the grim reality of Saparmurat Niyazov’s Turkmenistan.
Now, with the main hero gone, reality is all there is left, and it does not seem as if anyone had been prepared to deal with it.
Mr Niyazov’s sudden and fatal heart failure could have immense implications.
The heat in European homes, the war in the neighbouring Afghanistan and the fragile stability of the whole of Central Asia will be affected by how Turkmenistan deals with the unprecedented political uncertainty that Mr Niyazov’s death had brought.
For 21 years Mr Niyazov had dominated the nation that sits on the world’s fifth-largest natural gas reserves. The fact that he shared it with five million others never seemed to matter, for in Turkmenistan Turkmenbashi was the only one who counted.
Turkmenbashi (father of all Turkmen) demanded total loyalty and worship. Anyone who criticized him, refused to swear the oath of allegiance to him or to bow before his portrait ran the risk of punishment.
Turkmenistan is a one-party state. The Democratic Party of Turkmenistan faces no opposition. Neither are there any independent media. Radio, television and newspapers all need to promote the glory of the President.
The personality cult around the President developed to alarming proportions. Ruhnama, the Book of the Soul, written by the President has become the major textbook for all children. The number of hours spent on studying this ‘book of the soul’ is increasing rapidly and other subjects are being taken out of the curriculum. The new generation is growing up with a much distorted worldview in which Turkmenbashi has become the centre of the world. The quality of education has consequently gone down drastically, which is a cause of great concern for the future of this country.
Although Turkmenbashi claims that the country is now in its ‘Golden Century’, the majority of the population still lives in dreadful poverty. Behind a facade of wealth and modernity, lies a totally different world which the government tries to hide. Human rights are grossly violated in the country. Whole families end up in prison, because of a minor offense of one member. The situation in the prisons is appalling. All citizens are closely monitored. It is said that there is one secret service man for every four citizens.
The Church
The indigenous church of Turkmenistan is a very young church. The first believers came to the Lord in the beginning of the 1990s, through the testimony of the Russian protestant church and the work of tentmakers. Small groups of believers were formed, at first as an extension of the Russian church, but soon they established their own cultural identity. The initial amount of freedom in the country soon was curtailed and the government started to put pressure on Christians. Many of the Russian Christians have left the country because of the deteriorating situation in the country. With the growing personality cult of the President, the Christians found themselves more and more marginalized. Most of the protestant church buildings were demolished in the 1990s. Registration requirements have been eased in 2004, but being registered does not guarantee freedom of worship. Many groups and individuals have been harassed, fired from their jobs, fined, beaten, tortured, imprisoned, expelled from their homes, sent into exile and many other things. Because of the strict monitoring of people, it is very difficult for the different groups to have interaction. This isolated position and the lack of teaching have sometimes caused confusion and heretical teaching.
Recent positive development:
The number of people who become Christians is growing. Some of the believers have a vision for the Turkmen people in both Iran and Afghanistan and are reaching out to these countries in various ways.
Recent negative development:
Turkmenistan finds itself in a very isolated position in the world, but that applies even more for Christians in this country. Contact with each other and with Christians from abroad is strictly monitored. The unity among the believers that used to be there at the start is now seriously threatened.