Scholarly Analysis: Christian Response to Persecution in Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan

Panel: Findings from Central Asia, with Rt. Rev. Borys Gudziak, Ukrainian Eparchial Bishop in France, Benelux, and Switzerland
Moderator: Kent Hill, World Vision
Speakers: Kathleen Collins, University of Minnesota
Karrie Koesel, University of Notre Dame
Fenggang Yang, Purdue University

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Christian Demographics

In 2022, the U.S. government estimated the population of Turkmenistan at 5.6 million. According to 2020 estimates by the U.S. government, Turkmenistan is 89 percent Muslim and 9 percent Eastern Orthodox, primarily Russian Orthodox or Armenian Apostolic Orthodox. The remaining 2 percent includes Protestant and Catholic Christians. Though the lion’s share of officially registered religious organizations in the country are Sunni Muslim, there are registered organizations acting on behalf of these smaller Christian groups.

History of the Christian Community

Many Christians in Turkmenistan believe that Christianity was introduced to Turkmenistan in the fourth century. It then almost completely disappeared in fourteenth century as the vast majority of Turkmen became Muslim. Turkmenistan’s integration into the USSR as a Soviet Socialist Republic resulted in an influx of Russians and Ukrainians in the early twentieth century; they continue to constitute the vast majority of Russian Orthodox adherents in the country.

Current Situation of the Christian Community

As Christian groups are independently financed, their clergy are not subject to control by the state Council on Religious Affairs; however, this is one of the very few advantages the Christian community can boast over the Turkmen Muslim community. Proselytizing is illegal in the country, and holding religious services and conducting religious education is not permitted for non-registered groups. Foreign missionaries and religious organizations are also prohibited. Jehovah’s Witnesses are frequently incarcerated for refusing the mandatory two years of military service. In May 2021, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov pardoned all 16 Jehovah’s Witnesses jailed for conscientious objection to military service, along with over 1,000 other prisoners to celebrate the Night of Revelation, a holiday within the month of Ramadan. Berdymukhammedov’s pardon of the Jehovah’s witnesses was unprecedented, even as, notably, no Muslims held on religious charges were freed. Nonetheless, this gesture has not removed the threat of imprisonment for believers who refuse military service on conscientious grounds. Religious groups may not be involved in politics, and foreign funding for religious organizations is highly restricted and closely monitored. Wearing religious attire in public is prohibited. In addition, authorities frequently abuse members of non-registered religions in their custody, routinely torturing detainees. For these reasons, the U.S. Committee on International Religious Freedom has designated Turkmenistan as a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act each year since 2014.

Responses to Persecution

Survival is the first goal for most Christians in Turkmenistan, and as such few engage in any strategies of association or confrontation. Protestant churches especially have gone almost completely underground. Often church members gather in different places for worship to minimize the chances that neighbors will report on them. Underground networks and messaging systems work to ensure the safety of their members, and church pastors or activists periodically travel to check on the conditions of their members and to bring church materials, particularly Bibles. Point people have the responsibility of notifying members or even international contacts in the event of government raids or arrests. They respond if a member needs legal assistance.

The Catholic community of Turkmenistan is extremely small and also remains semi-underground. Although allowed to say Mass, they have no church building, and it is not clear that Catholics have attempted to register or to obtain a public church building for worship in recent years. Based on the available evidence, it is likely that most Catholics have left Turkmenistan since the early 1990s. For those remaining, the focus is on prayer and Mass, underground Bible study and catechism, and hope in the future. Evangelization and charity work are not on the agenda.

Despite the repression they face, most churches in Turkmenistan are reluctant to turn to international actors for help. This is due largely to a fear of government retaliation and a cultural suspicion of strangers, particularly from the West. This is not without cause. In one chilling instance, a Jehovah’s Witness appealed to the UN Human Rights Commission, and police subsequently detained, beat, and tortured three family members. Most Christians groups remain small, highly fragmented, and unorganized, with little ability to communicate.

The Russian Orthodox Church is an exception to the oppression faced by other Christian groups in Turkmenistan. To achieve its goals of monopolizing Christianity in the region and driving out competitors, the Orthodox Church has established good relations with the regime in power and with the Muslim Spiritual Board, the state body that organizes and controls an Islamic hierarchy in the country. In large part, their strategies have been successful. In Turkmenistan, the Orthodox leader is deputy director—and on the payroll—of the state committee regulating religious organizations.

Many Christians in Turkmenistan have also chosen emigration, although motives for these moves are multi-causal. Most Russian émigrés, though nominally Orthodox Christian, have left for reasons other than religious oppression. Rising nationalism and changing language laws in the late 1980s triggered a wave of out-migration of ethnic Europeans (the majority of Christians) even before the Soviet collapse. Since 1989, the number of ethnic Christians in Turkmenistan has dropped from 13 percent to less than 5 percent.

 

This country profile draws on research by Dr. Kathleen Collins and on the report In Response to Persecution by the Under Caesar's Sword project. It was updated by Joseph London at the University of Notre Dame in August 2022.