Tag Archives: religion

Kazakhstan allows headscarves in school

MARCH 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s minister of education Yerlan Sagadiyev said school councils were free to allow headscarves into the classroom. The declaration follows a public request to allow kimeshek headdress, considered part of Kazakh traditional dress, thus not in conflict with the government’s ban on wearing religious clothing items. Mr Sagadiyev’s declaration has now opened the way for more exceptions.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Georgia drops religion bill

FEB. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament unexpectedly dropped a bill that would have made insulting religion a crime. The bill’s sponsor, an MP for the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, withdrew the bill after it ran into a barrage of controversy for effectively clamping down on free speech. The suspicion was that Georgian Dream was using the bill to try and shore up support amongst supporters of Georgia’s Orthodox Church ahead of a parliamentary election later this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 268, published on Feb. 19 2016)

Editorial: Georgia and religion

FEB. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia looks set to make insulting religion a crime. This new law needs to be treated with extreme care.

It’s vital in a modern, progressive society to keep the principle of free speech sacrosanct and any move to erode this right should be rejected. And it does feel as if Georgian Dream, who know that they are going to be in a very tough, possibly dirty and definitely personal, battle to win a parliamentary election later this year, are playing politics with the issue.

Winning over traditional voters is vital for Georgian Dream. They have previously gone to great lengths to cosy up to the Orthodox Church and its supporters.

By making insulting religion a crime, they are protecting the Church further and should secure more support from the traditional, conservative section of the electorate.

There is a need to protect religion from slurs and insults, but this draconian law is probably not the answer.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Georgia to introduce law that punishes blasphemy

FEB. 2 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin)– Georgia took a major step towards introducing a law that will fine people for insulting religion after Parliament’s committee for human rights said that it supported a bill that criminalises blasphemy.

The bill has divided the country, pitting conservative religious groups who say the law is needed to dampen an increase in hate speech against liberal groups who argue the bill will limit free speech.

The parliamentary human rights committee decided that a law was needed to protect all religions from abuse.

Eka Beselia, head of the committee, said that many European countries already have a similar law.

On the streets of Tbilisi, young Georgians generally thought that the law was unnecessary. Otar Babukhadia, 23, a student said: “I think it’s just a popularity contest for the upcoming elections. It won’t affect anything, it’s just a formality.”

The Orthodox Church, a powerful institution in Georgia, issued a statement which said that it was not behind the proposed new law but that it did support fining people for insulting religion.

“Although there are frequent cases of insults and use of hate speech against the Church and its leader, the adoption of such a bill has not been our initiative – neither now nor previously,” it said.

The ruling Georgian Dream is close to the Orthodox Church and Salome Minesashvili, a political scientist at the Georgian Institute of Politics in Tbilisi, said that by introducing this law, which will protect the Church from criticism, the party aims to shore up support ahead of a parliamentary election in October.

“When democracy-linked values clash with traditions, Georgians expect the government to prioritise traditions at the expense of freedom.” she said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Georgian PM gives $185,000 to Church

JAN. 16 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili gave $185,000 to the Georgian Orthodox Church the day after taking office at the end of last year, local media reported by quoting official documents, attracting derision from opponents.

The donation was taken from the President’s Reserve Fund, a cash stockpile used for natural disasters and other emergencies such as the Tbilisi flood in 2015.

The President’s Reserve Fund totals $2m, meaning that the amount donated to the Church measured nearly 10% of its total value.

“The money-flow from the state to the Church is unstructured and we need to support the Church’s educational infrastructure,” the PM’s office said in a statement.

His opponents, though, have accused him of using funds ear- marked to save lives and rebuild homes and businesses after emergencies for his own political needs.

Eka Chitanava, Director of the Tolerance and Diversity Institute, an NGO working on religious freedom in Georgia, said: “The latest $185,000 donated by the PM is significant. The money was taken from the natural disaster budget, a fund they are not supposed to use for this.”

The Georgian Orthodox Church is one of the most powerful institutions in Georgia and its support would be useful to Mr Kvirikashvili and his Georgian Dream coalition in helping to win a parliamentary election scheduled for October.

It holds great sway over Georgia’s traditionally conservative society.

There was also frustration among ordinary Georgians over Mr Kvirikashvili’s donation.

“I understand the church is important,” Khatuna Gvelesiani, 30, said. “But to take it from a fund which should cover natural disaster, like the flood we had in June, can’t be justified. I am outraged.”

The Georgian Dream was the first political party ever to be endorsed by the Church in 2012 although this support has waned. It faces a tough battle to win the October election.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Iran welcome for opposition angers Tajikistan

DEC. 29 2015, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin)– Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Muhiddin Kabiri, the exiled head of Tajikistan’s now-banned main opposition party, in Tehran, immediately drawing threats from Tajik officials that the meeting would damage bilateral relations.

The major show of support from Iran for Mr Kabiri, who is wanted by police in Tajikistan to face various terrorism charges, and his Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) is a poke in the eye for Dushanbe, officially a secular country.

Tajikistan and Iran have traditionally close relations, sharing many similar cultural, religious and ethnic identifiers. Iran has also been a major sponsor of essential hydropower infrastructure in Tajikistan.

The Tajik foreign ministry sent a note to the Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe which said: “Such an attitude to the enemies of the state and the people of Tajikistan can have a negative impact on the friendly relations between Tajikistan and Iran.”

In September, Tajikistan banned the IRPT, once Tajikistan’s main opposition party, and accused its members of supporting radical Islam and terrorism.

Mr Kabiri, who fled into exile, and his supporters have accused the Tajik government of crushing dissent.

In Dushanbe, an analyst who preferred to remain anonymous told The Conway Bulletin that Mr Kabiri was taking a gamble by appearing in Tehran.

“For Kabiri and the IRPT, after having no support at all from the West, Iran was the last chance to stay in the political arena,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Kyrgyz Imam sentence doubles

NOV. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, doubled a jail sentence for Rashod Qori Kamolov, a Muslim Imam, to 10 years after an appeal by a local prosecutor. Kamolov was sentenced earlier this year for inciting religious discord. Kyrgyzstan and other coun- tries in Central Asia are wary of the spread of radical Islam.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Armenian church re-opens in Georgia

OCT. 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Armenian Orthodox Church reconsecrated the Cathedral of St George in Tbilisi, considered one of its most important churches in the region. The Cathedral was closed in 2012 for restoration work.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Comment: Internal issues, not external, are trigger for violence in Tajikistan

SEPT. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In Central Eurasia and the Caspian region, IS may not be a direct threat today but it could be in the future because many of the factors that create homegrown terrorism are already present. These are mainly the presence of foreign fighters from the Middle East and the influence of recruiters, particularly spread on Internet.

But importantly, and this is often overlooked, the penetration of politicised and radical [neo-] Salafism into pluralistic local Sunni- Hanafi doctrine and practice should be taken into account.

We should analyse thoroughly the factors that brought about IS into the Middle East to draw lessons on how to prevent the outbreak of similar cases in our region. Terrorism waged for the sake of seemingly religious aims cannot develop without a particular political conjuncture, social and psychological grounding.

Many analyses of terrorism have overlooked the psychological factor — the existence of hurt psychology and phenomenon of self- estrangement — in would-be radical militants. The mental prison of takfiri ideology produced by radical neo-Salafism incorporates the foundations of the above mentioned psychological factor. This factor is often coupled with the brutalisation of human nature.

Takfirism is a brand of radical neo-Salafism whose adherents accuse all other Muslims of unbelief and apostasy. Neo-Salafism is itself politicised, centralist, fond of a uniformity set of teaching which inculcates the siege mentality.

Consequently, we should be aware of the ongoing process of the penetration of neo-Salafist teachings in post-Soviet Sunni Muslim communities. The neutralisation of neo-Salafism in Central Eurasia would have been much more productive if it had not been the influence of some foreign actors. We cannot help but suspect the financial leverage of some states where political regimes are, at least, sympathetic to neo-Salafism.

Second, we should heed the phenomenon of the existence of how traumatised psychology shaped either by post-Soviet criminal under-culture or oppressive politics of highly authoritarian regimes.

We shouldn’t also forget that IS flourishes in the Middle East where the large communities of Sunni Muslims have become subject to brutalisation by oppressive and sectarian regimes.

By Galym Zhussipbek, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Suleyman Demirel University in Almaty

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(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

Tajik bank switches to Islamic banking code

MAY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik bank Bonki Rushdi Tojikiston (BRT) will switch to Islamic banking rules after striking a deal with the Saudi Arabia- based Islamic Development Bank, media reported.

BRT will be the first Islamic Bank in Tajikistan. Its conversion shows the increasing appeal of Islamic banking, after banks in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan agreed to switch.

BRT aims to complete the conversion by mid-2015.

“This will open the door to numerous other operators iden- tifying the opportunities inherent in the sharia compli- ant financial system,” Khaled Al-Aboodi, head of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector was quoted as saying. Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector is the unit within the Islamic Development Bank which helps banks convert to Islamic banking rules.

Reuters reported that Islamic banking has grown more popular across the world but has been slower in taking off in Muslim dominated countries that are officially secular. The popularity of finance raised through a sukuk, an instrument that adheres to Islamic banking rules, has also grown in popularity in the region. Earlier this year, the part state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan said it wanted to issue a sukuk worth $200m to $300m.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)