Turkmenistan President Attempts to Meddle in Orthodox Structure

(Forum 18) – Russian Orthodox Patriarch Aleksi II has politely sidelined Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov’s attempt to split the dozen or so Russian Orthodox parishes in Turkmenistan away from the Central Asian diocese, and subordinate them directly to the Patriarch. A Moscow-based priest familiar with the situation, who preferred not to be identified, insisted to Forum 18 News Service that the Church itself has to make such decisions, not the state. The priest told Forum 18 that he believes President Niyazov “wants the Orthodox Church to exist, but a Church that is in his hand, just as he has done with Islam.” Stressing that the Moscow Patriarchate is keen to see an end to the tensions between the Church and the Turkmen government, the priest deplored the denial of visas to three or four priests who the diocese wished to send to serve in Turkmenistan , and the refusal of the Turkmen government so far to re-register Russian Orthodox parishes.