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Persecution in Turkmenistan Condemned by Adventist Representative
Proposals by the United States Commission on International Freedom to address the ongoing persecution of religious minorities in Turkmenistan brought reaction from the Seventh-day Adventist Church's department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty.

Addressing panelists and attendees at a Capitol Hill meeting on March 7, Jonathan Gallagher, associate director in the PARL department, said: "We are appalled at the gross violations of religious liberty in Turkmenistan. The church supports attempts to make the persecuting regime change course and respect the fundamental freedoms they claim to endorse. When churches are bulldozed and Christians imprisoned, tortured and deported, we must speak out against such atrocities."

The rule of Turkmenistan's president Nyazov, former Communist supremo, has brought widespread condemnation. Nina Shea, commissioner for USCIRF, announced the commission's proposals.

"The commission remains gravely concerned about the situation in Turkmenistan, where conditions for religious freedom are extremely bad," she said. "Most groups, no matter what their religious orientation, are now banned and actively suppressed."

The proposals called for immediate suspension of all non-humanitarian assistance to the government of Turkmenistan and the cancellation of all state visits between the two countries. Additionally, the commission called for Turkmenistan's human rights record to be raised at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Adventists have been targets of state-sponsored religious persecution in Turkmenistan, with the destruction in November 1999 of the only Adventist church building in the country, the arrest and detention of the pastor and members, fines and beatings, and the expulsion of an Adventist woman from her apartment for allegedly holding religious services there.

"We must send a clear message to the president of Turkmenistan that his actions in violating fundamental human rights are intolerable," says Gallagher. "We are asking all those who wish to support our protest at the treatment of religious minorities in Turkmenistan to write to both the Turkmen government and to elected leaders here in the US." Details about the letter-writing campaign are available at un.adventist.org
Source:...ANN Washington, D.C., USA -- Entered March 14, 2002

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