TURKMENISTAN: Major Hare Krishna festival banned

[vijay]

TURKMENISTAN: Major Hare Krishna festival banned

By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service

Banned since the spring from meeting in the house it rented for use as a temple in the wake of February and March police and secret police raids, the Hare Krishna community in the capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat] was warned by officials not to hold celebrations on 17 and 18 April for Rama Navami, one of the most important Hare Krishna festivals of the year. "Our community can't meet at all now," Hare Krishna sources complained to Forum 18 News Service, "neither in the house, nor at the legal address. This is critical as religious communities can't meet in private homes and local authorities are afraid of renting property they own to religious communities as they don't want problems. So what can the community do?"

Officials warned the Hare Krishna community in the capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat] not to hold celebrations on 17 and 18 April for the festival of Rama Navami, an annual celebration marking the appearance of Lord Sri Ramacandra and one of the most important Hare Krishna festivals. "Our community wanted to celebrate the festival," Hare Krishna sources who preferred not to be named told Forum 18 News Service on 25 April, "but was told it couldn't meet in the house it has been renting since last September." As religious meetings in private homes are banned, this meant that the Ashgabad community could not hold the celebration at all. The ban follows earlier police and National Security Ministry secret police raids on the community in February and March which halted all Hare Krishna worship in the capital despite the fact that the community is registered with the government.

 

The sources reported that a few days before the festival, officials from Ashgabad city administration summoned several local Hare Krishna leaders and told them that the community cannot meet until planned new government regulations have been produced and published. Officials complained that when the community rented the house last year it had declared that it would use the premises for business purposes but had violated this by using the house for religious meetings. (Ashgabad city administration issued a decree in July 2004 banning the renting of private homes and flats for business and religious purposes.)

 

"The local administration knew that our community was renting the house for religious purposes and made no objection," the sources insisted to Forum 18. "They could have intervened last year when the forms were being filled in, but they didn't. And the community paid the tax for one year in advance."

 

The Hare Krishna community had used the house, owned by female devotee Gaurabhakta devi dasi, as its temple until soon after the harsh new law on religion was adopted in 1996 and the community lost its official registration – along with all other non-Muslim and non-Russian Orthodox religious communities - in the compulsory re-registration in 1997. When the community finally achieved re-registration in summer 2004 it registered its legal address in a private flat.

 

However, officials banned the group from meeting at the legal address, so the community rented the house, paying the tax for one year of 1,200,000 manats (1,447 Norwegian kroner, 178 Euros or 230 US dollars at the vastly inflated official exchange rate) using contributions from community members. "The government's Gengeshi (Committee) for Religious Affairs had no objection to renting the house – it knew it would be used for religious purposes."

 

The community met at the house without obstacle for some six months before the police and secret police raids, during which they were ordered not to meet there again. When the Hare Krishna devotees asked the tax office to return half a year's tax they had already paid if the community could no longer rent the premises, the tax office refused.

 

"Our community can't meet at all now," the Hare Krishna sources complained, "neither in the house, nor at the legal address. This is critical as religious communities can't meet in private homes and local authorities are afraid of renting property they own to religious communities as they don't want problems. So what can the community do?"

 

After the government allowed minority religious communities to register again last summer for the first time since 1997 it banned some of the newly-registered communities from holding any services. The Seventh-day Adventist and the Baptist communities in Ashgabad were both denied permission to meet for more than half a year after gaining registration. Many more religious minorities, as well as many Muslim communities, have still not been able to register (see F18News 22 April 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=548).

 

Up to about 70 Hare Krishna devotees would gather in Ashgabad to mark major festivals, community members told Forum 18, with perhaps two dozen on a weekly basis. A Hare Krishna community also meets in the Mari region east of the capital. In May 2003, the communities in Ashgabad and in the village of Budenovsky just outside the town of Mari were raided by police at a time of widespread raids on religious communities of a variety of faiths (see F18News 8 July 2003 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=100).

 

The authorities used tractors to destroy the temple in Budenovsky in August 1999 as persecution of religious minorities was beginning to intensify. Three months later the authorities used bulldozers to destroy the Adventist church in Ashgabad. No religious communities that had places of worship destroyed or confiscated between 1999 and 2004 (including Muslim, Adventist, Baptist, Pentecostal or Hare Krishna communities) have had apologies or compensation for the destroyed buildings.

 

For more background, see Forum 18's Turkmenistan religious freedom survey at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=296

 

A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at

 

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme

[theist]

Is Turkmenistan a former part of the Soviet Union. I notice the Russian Orthodox is offically recognized. Do they have an embassy in America or Europe? Ambassador or Chargee de Faire (or however you spell that)that we can contact?

[Kulapavana]

Turkmenistan is mostly Muslim.

[theist]

Yeah so?

[Pankaja_Dasa]

 

 

Your on fire

[Guest guest]

means that Muslims are a fiercely religious people and they have the right to ban non-muslim festivals as it could hurt their sentiments. All clear?

[theist]

I understand you but vehemently disagree. I find your sentiment shocking actually.

[Airicky]

 

means that Muslims are a fiercely religious people and <font color="blue"> they have the right to ban non-muslim festivals as it could hurt their sentiments </font color> All clear?

 

 

[Kulapavana]

I was simply making a comment to theistji, that in this case protesting to the Russian Orthodox Church is probably misdirected.

 

Of course such banning of religious festivals is outrageous in this day and age, but lets get our facts straight before we start protesting to somebody.

[theist]

The facts seem pretty straight forward. There is an oppression of religious freedom. This is wrong no matter who does it or where.

 

And nobody suggested appealing to the Church. I agree that would be useless but nor can we remain silent and not speak up for those devotees. So we must lodge our protests to theproper govt. authorities. We just need some contact info.

[Guest guest]

for Turkmenistan:

 

 

 

Turkmenistan Embassy Contact Info.

 

 

 

If you are in DC, you could demonstrate in front of the embassy. Otherwse, email and phone them with your views on their mentality.

[Guest guest]

the Lamestream Media, ABCCBSNBCCNN......

 

 

Not that there is a snowballs chance in hell that they will report this bigotry.....

[vijay]

I heard a lecture by srila prabhupada that in an ideal vedic monoracy the king has a duty to make sure the subjects follow god. Then a diciple asked what about if the are christian, srila prabhupada said we should encourage them, but they have to follow properly not eating meat etc.

Then the diciple asked what about the bhudists, srila prabhupada said they should be rectified to follow god, then the diciple asked about atheists, srila prabhupada said they should be forced to follow god, the king should somehow make sure like a loving father sends the child to be educated by force even if he doesnt want to be educated.

Then the diciple says then where is the freedom, even the animals are free and we give athiests less opertunity than the animals, srila prabhupada said animals in the kingdom who cause a disturbance do not remain in the kingdom they are driven out.

 

This is just off the top of my memory so full of faults but this was the general gist.

 

 

 

It

[theist]

I will politely but firmly tell them what I think of this oppression. The results are up to Krsna.

 

Yeah the alphabet farse of a media are too busy with the runaway bride story and general celebrity nonsense to be concerned with something so trival as spiritual freedom.

 

vijay please do not refer to yourself as an IT. You are part of Krsna and deserve to be respected as such even by yourself. Our humility will arise naturally as we learn what infitesimal means. Also your family here will find it painful.

 

Haribol spiritsouls

[Guest guest]

Muslims believe that there is no god but allah. Hence the worship of Krishna might hurt their religious sentiments. Maybe, that's why they've banned the festival. What's so surprising about that?

[theist]

They have a long history of that and worse. I just saw a National Geographic special on the giant Buddha statues that were destroyed in Bamiyan valley Afghanistan. Plus all the art work that was ruined just because they were paintings of living things.

 

One of these days it might dawn on these savages that the eyes take an image of all they see and relay that image to the brain. Can you imagine what will happen next?

[Guest guest]

If the Muslims don't agree with your way of thinking, that's talibanism??? The Muslims are very religious people and they only worship Allah. Naturally, Krishna worship offends them and so they've banned the fest. That's the way I see the whole thing, and there is no controversy.

 

If a neighbor makes trouble, would you let him inside your apartment? Of course not. And similarly, if the Muslims feel certain people could be a threat to their culture, they have the right to block their entry or ban the fest or whatever.

 

What's so "taliban" about this?

[Guest guest]

What happened in Afghanistan was an internal matter. I don't think the world should interfere and turn it into an international matter. One can also interfere in America's internal matters, there are toooooo many skeletons in the closet!!! All people, nations and cultures make mistakes. No big deal.

[theist]

Yes the muslims certainly have a history of staying within their own borders and not imposing their religion on others don't they?

 

Maybe the rest of the world should have denied all Muslims from setting up shop outside of the Middle East then. How about if the rest of the world started closing down Mosques and stopping open public prayers and certainly those calls to prayers that are heard by people from other religions need to be silenced immediately.

 

I won't continue in this "converstaion" as I am so very tired of religious fanatics.

 

Good day

[theist]

Oh like the invasion of the Soviet Union was just an internal matter? Beating and shooting of women for no good reason is just internal business? Well guess what? The world decided to make it their business.

 

You need to find a time machine and teleport yourselves back 1400 years. You ceratinly have no business in the 21st century. Afterall we believe that children have a right to fly kites.

 

That's all for you as well.

[vijay]

Sorry prabhu i just saw the 'It' signature at the bottom it was a mistake, im not that humble yet (-:

[gHari]

<center>adharmaM dharmam iti yA

manyate tamasAvRtA

sarvArthAn viparItAMz ca

buddhiH sA pArtha tAmasI

</center>

adharmam--irreligion; dharmam--religion; iti--thus; yA--which; manyate--thinks; tamasA--by illusion; AvRtA--covered; sarva-arthAn--all things; viparItAn--in the wrong direction; ca--also; buddhiH--intelligence; sA--that; pArtha--O son of PRthA; tAmasI--in the mode of ignorance.

That understanding which considers irreligion to be religion and religion to be irreligion, under the spell of illusion and darkness, and strives always in the wrong direction, O PArtha, is in the mode of ignorance.

 

PURPORT

Intelligence in the mode of ignorance is always working the opposite of the way it should. It accepts religions which are not actually religions and rejects actual religion. Men in ignorance understand a great soul to be a common man and accept a common man as a great soul. They think truth to be untruth and accept untruth as truth. In all activities they simply take the wrong path; therefore their intelligence is in the mode of ignorance.

 

[Guest guest]

Yes the muslims certainly have a history of staying within their own borders and not imposing their religion on others don't they?***

 

I dont know. I am not that familiar with ancient history.

 

How about if the rest of the world started closing down Mosques and stopping open public prayers and certainly those calls to prayers that are heard by people from other religions need to be silenced immediately.****

 

That would be fanaticism.

 

Maybe the rest of the world should have denied all Muslims from setting up shop outside of the Middle East then***

 

What's this gotta do with economics????

 

I won't continue in this "converstaion" as I am so very tired of religious fanatics.***

 

I am a Vaishnava and I oppose fanaticism. There is no point in saying that because the Muslims won't allow us to practice our religion in their country, we too should follow the same rule as tit for tat. It is ridiculous.

 

Our Purushotama wasn't so narrow-minded, while singing his gita. Also, great personalities like Ghandi advised us to forgive those who hurt us. Therefore, even if the Muslims ban us in their homes, we should welcome them to ours, in the name of ahimsa and bhakti, two of the central points in Bhagwat Gita.

 

Good day to you too, sir.

[Guest guest]

Oh like the invasion of the Soviet Union was just an internal matter?****

 

When did the Muslims invade Soviet Union? Also, was it not Soviet Union that invaded Afghanistan and murdered innocents?

 

You ceratinly have no business in the 21st century.****

 

That was rude. I dont know why you're attacking me.

 

Afterall we believe that children have a right to fly kites.***

 

???????

[theist]

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