Overview
Central Asia is the term Release International uses to refer to a group of nations that used to be part of the Soviet Union in the Central Asian region: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
In all of these countries Islam is the majority faith, although in some cases this is quite nominal. Kazakhstan is by far the largest, in terms of area. It is also a very wealthy nation, with extensive oil, gas and other mineral resources. Turkmenistan, which has the smallest population in the region, also has significant natural gas reserves (between 1993 and 2017 its citizens received electricity, water and gas free of charge!).
All of these countries gained their independence in the early 1990s after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Tajikistan then endured a five-year civil war from 1992. Several of these counties have what are considered poor human rights records with Turkmenistan, in particular, being deemed a very restrictive nation.
What it means to be a Christian in these Central Asian countries
In most of these countries there are restrictions of one form or another on churches, particularly those outside the Russian Orthodox. In Uzbekistan fines have been imposed on Christian converts from Islam. In some of these countries Christian meetings are monitored and infiltrated by the authorities. In Turkmenistan Christian worship is limited to government-sanctioned denominations. Church registration is required but in practice can be very difficult to acquire.
Persecution
Since independence from the former Soviet Union the persecution of Christians in these Central Asian countries has come from two quarters: restrictive governments and then, in some cases, from families and local communities (usually where individuals have come to faith in Christ from a Muslim background). In particular, Evangelical Christians face harassment from the authorities, with meetings routinely monitored.
In 2017, in Tajikistan, Pastor Bakhrom Kholmativ was sentenced to three years in prison for ‘singing extremist songs in church and so inciting religious hatred’. Secret police had raided the church. He was released, slightly early, in December 2019. At the time of his arrest it was reported that several other churches had been raided and closed. The following year restrictions were imposed on the religious education of children, including their freedom to attend church worship meetings.
Release International work
Release International’s work in this region focuses, through Operation Pavel, on the leadership, training and on-going support of a network of national workers across these countries, who are active in church planting and pastoring the often scattered and isolated congregations of Christian believers. This network also takes in Kalmykia, an area in the North Caucasus region of Russia. Kalmykia is the only region in Europe where Buddhism is the predominant religion.
This long-term work has sought to increase the impact of mission activity and discipleship training, deepening the active faith and general resilience of Christians, who live in difficult situations. The toughest of these countries seems to be Turkmenistan, where local churches are very small and isolated. Travel is often restricted, even within the country, by the country’s repressive totalitarian regime.
