SEPT. 21 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s parliament passed a draft law that restricts Muslims’ right to worship in the workplace and requires missionaries of all religions to register with the authorities every year. The draft law is part of a raft of new legislation in Kazakhstan to try and clampdown on militant Islam.
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(News report from Issue No. 58, published on Sept. 27 2011)
AUG. 10 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s government formally complained to Iran over comments it attributed to a senior Iranian general, local media reported. Major General Hassan Firouzabadi is alleged to have said that Azerbaijan has taken an anti-Islamic stance on some issues. The two countries had been developing closer ties this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 53, published on Aug. 17 2011)
AUG. 4 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a move aimed at stopping the spread of radical Islam, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon banned youths from mosques, news agencies reported. A batch of new laws entitled “parental responsibility” also banned people under the age of 20 from going to nightclubs or getting a tattoo.
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(News report from Issue No. 52, published on Aug. 10 2011)
AUG. 9 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan have deported eight suspected Christian missionaries, AFP news agency quoted a state website as saying. According to the report, the missionaries were all US citizens but spoke fluent Uzbek and posed as businessmen with Uzbek names. The US embassy in Tashkent declined to comment.
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(News report from Issue No. 52, published on Aug. 10 2011)
JULY 14 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) -The authorities in Tajikistan released Urunboy Usmonov, a local BBC reporter, on bail. Police arrested Mr Usmonov last month and charged him with being a member of a banned radical Islamic group. The BBC has protested his innocence. The authorities in Tajikistan have cracked down on the media this year as they fight militant Islamists.
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(News report from Issue No. 49, published on July 20 2011)
JULY 12 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian society is relatively conservative and — rejuvenated after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union — the Orthodox Church plays a prominent role people’s lives.
So when the government acted on a recommendation from the Council of Europe to improve the status of minority religions it triggered more than just a murmur of discontent.
Thousands of people marched through the streets of Tbilisi in the biggest demonstrations for years on July 9, three days after President Mikheil Saakashvili signed into law an amendment that granted minority religions recognition for the first time. The amendment allows minority religions to register as religious associations and not just as non-profit associations.
The Georgian Orthodox Church, lead by Patriach Ilia II, at first said the amendments were dangerous but then toned down its opposition and said that the amendments needed to be debated more fully before they were formalised.
Although the Georgian Orthodox Church’s seniority is enshrined in the Constitution, Church officials are disgruntled. Many said the changes would have serious negative consequences for State-Church relations.
Since coming to power in the peaceful Rose Revolution of 2003, Mr Saakashvili has firmly pushed Georgia towards the US and the European Union. Roughly 90% of Georgia’s population say they are part of the Orthodox Church.
Tweaking the law on religion is a risk for Mr Saakashvili but it is also an important signal to his Western partners that he wants Georgia to move further towards integration.
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(News report from Issue No. 48, published on July 12 2011)
FEB. 23 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – German prosecutors said they had arrested two German nationals involved with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) which is linked to al-Qaeda, media reported. The IMU is blamed for a number of attacks in Central Asia and Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 29, published on Feb. 28 2011)
FEB. 7 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nearly all Tajikistan’s 7.5m people are Muslim and the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) is the only political party in Central Asia linked to religion, but over the last few months the authorities have steadily increased pressure on Islam and practicing Muslims.
Last year Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon called for hundreds of students enrolled at madrases in Egypt and Pakistan to return home to stop them from becoming radicalised and the authorities have closed dozens of what they say are unregistered religious schools and mosques. Police have raided the IRPT which they accuse of having links to extremists and its cultural centre burnt down in a mysterious fire.
Wearing a beard is now also a problem. Local media reports are full of accounts of police stopping bearded men on the street and accusing them of being Islamic extremists.
The pressure is linked to the government’s battle against insurgents in the Rasht Valley to the south of the capital, Dushanbe. Since September 2010, when extremists killed at least 25 soldiers in an ambush, Tajik forces have poured into the Rasht Valley to hunt down al-Qaeda-linked fighters.
The authorities say as well as fighting these insurgents in the mountains, they also have to stop them from enrolling recruits from the towns and cities.
But that’s just the problem, say many analysts. They say that poverty and the authorities’ heavy-handedness are driving young men in Tajikistan — which borders Afghanistan and is a key part of the NATO supply chain — to the extremists.
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(News report from Issue No. 26, published on Feb. 7 2011)
FEB. 7 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s biggest Islamic party said unknown assailants had beaten one of its senior members, Umarali Khisainov, near his home. Media reports said Mr Khisainov was now in hospital. The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan has come under increased pressure since last year when the government intensified fighting against Islamic extremists.
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(News report from Issue No. 26, published on Feb. 7 2011)
JAN. 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz police said they had arrested three Kazakhs in Bishkek on suspicion of plotting to bomb a business centre. This is the first time that Kazakhs have been directly implicated in the growing violence in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 24, published on Jan. 24 2011)