Violations of Freedom of Religion or Belief in Turkmenistan

As a participating state in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Turkmenistan has committed itself to implementing OSCE norms and standards to strengthen freedom of religion or belief and other fundamental rights. Yet, the government of Turkmenistan remains one of the most repressive regimes in the world.

By suppressing freedom of religion, the government is denying people an essential right that is crucial to allowing, in the words of the UN Human Rights Committee, “freedom of thought on all matters, personal conviction and the commitment to religion or belief, whether manifested individually or in community with others.” Religious freedoms are inextricably intertwined with other fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression and assembly, and so serve as a litmus test of the wider state of human rights within a country.

To examine the nature of religious repression in Turkmenistan, the Open Society Foundations and Forum 18 News Service collaborated on this report. Forum 18's research methodology involves monitoring both foreign-based media and Turkmenistan’s official media, and talking with groups such as government officials (whenever they are willing to talk, which is rare), local religious communities, and human rights defenders (though many fear speaking about religious freedom abuses for fear of reprisals from the state), and foreign-based human rights defenders and others who follow developments in the country.

The policy recommendations and analysis from Forum 18’s findings were developed by the Open Society Central Eurasia Project.