Kazakhstan turned 16 years old on Sunday. I have more than a passing interest in the place since that's where I adopted my daughter in February.
The embassy had a party Dec. 5 to which I went -- daughter in tow -- to meet the new ambassador, Erlan Idrissov. The Kazakhs are pretty happy these days because they just obtained -- over the protests of human rights groups -- the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2010. Human Rights Watch's protest is here.
Why this is problematic needs a bit of explaining. To begin with, Kazakhstan has the world's lengthiest required stays for adoptive parents -- about seven weeks -- meaning that I spent all of January and a good part of February in this area of central Asia.
While in Kostenai -- a snowy northern city of 300,000 near the Russian border -- and in Almaty, the commercial capital, I had numerous conversations with journalists, American embassy staff, missionaries, expatriate businessmen and several Kazakhs about religious freedom in this former Soviet republic. The general consensus was that while things weren't perfect, it was worlds better than truly repressive places such as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Although the country was majority Muslim, it was quite secularized. The Muslims I met never went to mosque. I was in the north near large concentrations of Russian Orthodox, but many of them were nominal believers as well and the one Orthodox church I visited was mainly older people.
The most interesting -- and growing -- groups were the evangelical, pentecostal and charismatic Christians who met quietly in houses or small churches. I was told they had freedom to pass out tracts in the streets, particularly during warmer weather. The understanding seemed to be that they were free to witness to non-believers or the Orthodox but they needed to leave the Muslims alone. Many of the pentecostals ignored such prohibitions; one church I visited was made up of mainly Kazakh charismatics whose evangelistic literature was printed in Germany.
During the long hours I spent in Internet cafes, I also chanced on Forum 18, a Norwegian group that charts the many religious freedom violations in former Soviet republics. Kazakhstan, like the old Soviet Union, compels all religious organizations to register with the state. But it's these smaller -- and growing -- groups that are getting the majority of the harassment. For instance, the government is denying registration in the western city of Atyrau, to certain Muslim, Presbyterian, Jehovah's Witness and pentecostal congreations. In Karaganda, a city in the central steppes, Grace Presbyterian, a large evangelical Protestant church, underwent a 15-hour raid on Aug. 24. Harassment of religious groups and fines are common in elsewhere in Kazakhstan and after awhile, one wonders why Kazakhstan got the OSCE chairmanship with this kind of activity going on in multiple cities.
But the worst -- and still unresolved matter belongs to the Hare Krishnas, whose communal land outside of Almaty was seized by the local Karasai government supposedly because the farmer from whom the Krishnas had purchased the land in 1999 did not hold proper title.
On Nov. 21, 2006, district officials arrived at the commune with court orders, bulldozers, trucks, and riot police. Authorities blocked access to the commune, cut electricity, and demolished 66 homes, throwing peoples' possessions into the snow and leaving homeowners without shelter or compensation. The police beat several Hare Krishnas and arrested at least one resident who protested the action. The police attempted to bar observers from the process.
I pulled most of the above paragraph from the U.S. embassy in Kazakhstan's Web site, so I am not making this up. The whole thing was a huge international embarrassment as Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev had just finished hosting a Congress of World Religions that September in Astana, the capital. Plus, the famous Borat movie on Kazakhstan was all over U.S. theaters. I briefly considered visiting the site while I was in the country, but the commune was 25 miles away. 
Kazakhstan officials greet guests at the Kazakhstan Embassy's Dec. 5 party marking the country's 16th birthday. Pictured are (from left) Ambassador Erlan Idrissov, his wife, Nurilla, military attache Col. Assylbek Mendygaliez and his wife, Raushan, and political counselor Toleugazy Abzhanov. (Photo by Julia Duin)
A year later, the local government has refused to give the land back and has transferred it to the original farmer. An update is here. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan is planning for another religious congress in 2009.
I really like Kazakhstan and hope to get back there sooner rather than later, albeit in warmer weather. It's definitely a country in major transition. The fact that the newer publications are in three languages: Russian, Kazakh and English, show the country wants to become known to the wider world. And the sooner it distances itself from Soviet-style religious harassment, the better.
-- Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times
