Jehovah's Witnesses in Kazakhstan 34

Table of Contents

1. Introduction............................................................................................................................... 2

2. Literature Review..................................................................................................................... 7

3. Field Research......................................................................................................................... 16

4. Analysis.................................................................................................................................... 23

5. Conclusion............................................................................................................................... 30

6. References................................................................................................................................ 32

1. Introduction

Imagine the scenario: Your son comes to you with the words: "I am leaving my university because, while continuing to learn, I get only higher education, but I lose my life. And now I can help you and myself. I became a Jehovah's Witness - the one true God! ". Any arguments will be powerless to change anything. That is how anyone may lose his son, daughter or wife. This can happen to anyone. Nowadays, there are some assumptions that non-traditional religions like Jehovah's Witnesses pose danger to national security and stability. Moreover, some people claim that they have hidden political and commercial motives mostly in developing countries like Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and others. On the other hand, other people indicate that religious organizations should be given complete freedom and their rights should not be restricted for any reason. That is why countries like Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries should pay particular attention to this issue.

Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia with a territory of 2,717,300 square kilometers (Rotar, 2005, para.2). According to the Republican Agency for Statistics, currently Kazakhstan has a population of more than 16 million people with more than 128 nationalities. More than two thirds of the population is Muslim. More than twenty five percent of people are Christians. Less than three percent of people claim to be atheists. Although Islam and Christianity are the dominant religions, 5281, 14663 and 3688 people follow Judaism, Buddhism and other minor religions respectively (2009, p.4, 277). Moreover, there are not only 964 registered Protestant Christian organizations, but also there are sizable groups of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, Methodists, Mennonites and Mormons. According to government statistics there are four Jewish synagogues, four registered Buddhist groups, eleven affiliates of Hare Krishna, and unspecified numbers of Baha’is, Christian Scientists, and the Unification Church in Kazakhstan (United Nations Human Rights Council Universal [UNHRC], 2009, p.1).

After the collapse of the USSR the number of religious organizations started to increase dramatically in Kazakhstan. There are allegations that most of these non-traditional religions are dangerous to the whole society. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan states that 1,870 religious organizations in Kazakhstan are a threat to national security and stability (as cited UNHRC, 2009, p.5). Communist party deputy Abylkasymov (2005) says that the Jewish-Masonic conspiracy, which he claims has power in Europe and the USA, is trying to dominate the world. Furthermore, he alleges that "they have already conquered Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan and now they are sneaking up on Kazakhstan”. He adds that the CIA has allocated as much as 12 billion dollars to support activities of Protestant "sects" that are carrying out the role of "ideological saboteurs". He suggests that during the time of Genghis Khan ideological saboteurs were executed. However, as this is not possible in the modern day, Kazakhstan needs to defend itself by means of various laws (as cited in Rotar, 2005, para.14). According to the President Nazarbaev’s decree issued in 2006 on “Patriotic Education” currently, the government is struggling with the increasing activities of non-traditional religious associations and extremist organizations that are aimed primarily at engaging young people in their “ranks”. Moreover, President Nazarbaev (2008) declared that even though “religion is separate from the state Kazakhstan should not become a dumping ground for various religious movements” (as cited in United States Commission on International Religious Freedom [USCIRF], 2010, para.16).

Possibly for the sake of national security and stability, the Kazakh government has introduced several laws restricting the activities of religious minorities. First of all, political parties or associations that have ethnic, religious or national identities are not allowed to be created according to the Kazakhstani constitution (UNHRC, 2005, para.2). Secondly, in 2005 President Nazarbaev signed amendments entitled “On additions and amendments to the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan relating to national security” which made it obligatory to officially register all religious communities and banned the activities of all unregistered religious communities (UNHRC, 2005, para.3). There is no doubt that freedom of religion is substantially restricted in the country because of these laws. Moreover, currently two articles of the Administrative Code of Republic of Kazakhstan punish illegal religious activity. Article 374-1 punishes management, participation and financing the activities of not registered religious associations with a fine of up to 300,000 tenge. Article 375 on "violating the law on religion" includes punishments for individuals who conduct "missionary activity" without a special license from the state, for leaders of religious organizations who reject state registration and for communities whose activity "contradicts their aims and tasks" or which is not listed in their state-approved statutes (UNHRC, 2009, p.3).

In 2005, Klyushev, a member of the Association of Religious Communities of Kazakhstan has compared Kazakhstan with civilized countries where religious leaders have a legitimate place in society, heading spiritual, moral and social organizations and initiatives. Klyushev claims that religious leaders serve people and God by encouraging people to help each other for the sake of the society. In Kazakhstan, religious leaders are thought to be dangerous people who cause harm to the nation. In addition to this, he says that legislators in Kazakhstan show a crude and discriminatory attitude towards religious minorities. He suggests that “distrust towards religious leaders is a legacy of the Soviet-era thinking still deeply embedded in the consciousness of society” (para.2). However, Klyushev claims that believers were not affected by the adoption of the new law. "It's true that every so often the provincial authorities take action against Christians – usually members of unregistered religious communities, but such incidents also happened before the extremism and national security laws." Klyushev does not believe that central authorities are responsible for the repression of believers. He indicates that that this is "on the personal initiative of provincial officials who retain a Soviet outlook" (as cited in Ritor, 2005, para.36).

In order to control the situation among rising numbers of religious organizations Kazakhstani authority use different methods. For instance, in June 2007, in a Hare Krishna community near Almaty more than ten homes were forcibly demolished. For leading an unregistered congregation a Baptist pastor was jailed for three days in March. Police described this as “the fight against terrorism and religious groups without registration” (Minority Rights Group International [MRGI], 2007, para.24). Klyushev says that in Kokchetav, the town administration informed the landlord to immediately tear up the contract with local Protestants who rented the building. Similarly, police told the pastor of a Methodist church in Karaganda to leave immediately as there could be serious trouble (as cited in Rotar, 2005, para.3). According to Vidiya the land that belonged to the Krishna community was almost seized by local authorities. Additionally, authorities for some reasons have refused to allow the Hare Krishna community to celebrate their religious festival in Kaskelen (as cited in Rotar, 2005, para.14). Despite the fact that new regulations restrict freedom of religion there are some doubts that such severe actions by Kazakhstani authority are justified.

Even though authorities claim that religious minorities are dangerous, there is little evidence to prove this. Every citizen of the country needs to know the objectives of the presence of religious minorities. Spiritual satisfaction is one of the basic human needs. Sometimes this can be used in someone's self-interest. There are hundreds of examples when people lose all their property, leave their homes and families and sometimes even disappear after following a particular religious group. There is still too little information available about these non-traditional religions. This research will focus on Jehovah’s Witnesses which is one of the most popular non-traditional religions.

In order to reveal whether government’s persecution is justified and to what extent Jehovah’s Witnesses is safe it is crucial to analyze the situation from different perspectives. In order to achieve this, semi-structured interviews with a representative of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a priest and a sexton of Russian Orthodox Church were conducted. Olya has been a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses for more than ten years. The interview took place at interviewer’s house on March 7^th. Zagadych and Dvoreckii hold the position of a priest and a sexton of the Russian Orthodox Church respectively. Their interview was conducted on March 11^th at the Ascension Cathedral in Almaty. All of the interviewees agreed to have their interviews recorded. These interviews provided not only a better understanding but made it possible to avoid biases. By doing so, finally answers to two questions were given; justification of persecution by authorities and whether is it safe to join Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The report consists of five chapters. The literature review provides evidence of the fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses is not a safe religious organization and sheds light on the government’s persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The field research that comes after the literature review is based on interviews with representatives of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Russian Orthodox Church. The analysis part combines the evidence from all three previous parts of the report. Finally, the conclusion ties up all loose ends and brings the research report to a close.