The legal aspect of interfaith relations in the Crimea
It is no secret that the Crimea is a hotbed of conflicts or even permanent confrontation among religious communities. There are several reasons for this: theoretical contradictions, structural affiliation, claims to churches and facilities used for religious activities, etc. Typically the parties involved try to settle such conflicts by political means, appealing to the peninsular parliament, government, or State Property Fund. Much more rarely, they appeal to the law. In this context, it is interesting, first, how these problems are assessed by professional lawyers, and, second, what has been done by the legal authorities in the autonomy to see to it that interfaith relationships be governed only by the law? This is the topic of the talk between and The Day’s correspondent and Senior Deputy Prosecutor of the Crimea for oversight over the enforcement of laws on interfaith relations, legal councilor Rishat ABDIYEV and Head of the Crimean Prosecutor’s Office press center, senior legal councilor Anatoly TYTARCHUK.
Messrs. Abdiyev and Tytarchuk, you must have statistics on interfaith conflicts in the area. Based on them, what is your evaluation of the interfaith situation on the peninsula? How big are the chances of any complications?
R. A.: The religious situation in the Crimean republic is stable and quite predictable. Every year from 60 to 100 new religious organizations appear. Still, two conflicts happening last year and described by the mass media as involving Muslims and Orthodox believers in a way to sow seeds of distrust between these groups. The so-called tearing down of crosses and property claims to the Assumption Monastery were criticized by all Christian confessions. It must be said for the Orthodox priests that they did not support any actions organized by the Russian community.
A. T.: According to the Committee for Religious Issues, the events of last year have indicated that new conflicts could surface, involving predominantly such Orthodox confessions as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church [Moscow Patriarchate], Ukrainian Orthodox Church [Kyiv Patriarchate], and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. In addition, conflict might arise between Arab and Turkish-oriented Muslims. It is quite obvious that representatives of Christian Protestant organizations may be poised to capitalize on potential conflicts. We think that, apart from law enforcement agencies and the Committee for the Issues of Religions, the local parliamentary and governmental information analytical departments and sociological services should have a bigger role in forecasting and preventing interfaith conflicts. Regrettably, these structures operated only in the political sphere in the past, failing to forecast an upsurge in interfaith tensions and provide recommendations on how to defuse them. On the other hand, the Crimean mass media took a biased stance, openly siding with one religious group or another.
What is the structure of religious organizations in the Crimea and what trends dominate in it?
R. A.: There were 972 religious organizations in the Crimea at the beginning of 2002, including 947 religious communities of 48 confessions and beliefs, with 58 religious communities operating without registering their statutes. The number of religious organizations on the peninsula has grown greatly. Compared to 2000, 84 new organizations were set up, an increase by 9.5%. Compared to 1991, the network of religious organizations has increased 14 times. Changes in the religious network were not only numerical as seven new administrative structures have appeared during the last decade. The education of priests is carried out in five seminaries, and there are five monasteries, four religious missions, and four brotherhoods.
A. T.: For its size, the largest on the peninsula is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with its 373 communities. All Orthodox churches have 402 communities that unite 42% of Crimean believers. But the rate of growth of Islamic religious organizations is by far more significant, growing to 69 in number in the last two years, or 42% of new religious communities of all confessions. Recently, the number of Protestant communities has reached 204.
What is the distribution of communities on the peninsula?
R. A. : A fifth of all religious organizations are located in Simferopol and Simferopol district, with their network most scarce in Krasnoperekopsk, Nyzhniohirsksky, and Chornomorske districts. In the last three years, however, more religious communities have been registered in rural areas than in cities.
The effectiveness of religious communities hinges on the quality of the training of priests. What’s the situation in this respect?
A. T.: Religious communities on the peninsula are serviced by 723 priests, and apparently all confessions are faced with the problem of training new priests. Training is carried out both in Ukraine and abroad. At present, there are two colleges run by the Evangelical Christian Baptist Church and three Muslim mosques.
How often has the peninsular prosecutor’s office had to step in to ensure the enforcement of laws on religious issues? Have state structures been implicated in violations of such laws?
R. A.: The peninsular government Committee for the Issues of Religions has revealed serious violations of the law of Ukraine On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations. In many cases deadlines for considering applications and statutes of religious organizations were not met, with no written notification made to applicants of the results of consideration. Of the twenty applications for registration checked by the committee, not one of the applicants had been informed in writing about the registration of their statutes. As seals and dates of filing the applications were missing it was impossible to define consideration deadlines. Quite often the committee, bypassing the law, registered statutes of religious organizations.
A. T.: Serious breaches of the law have been brought to light in the work of the Crimean Republic Committee for Information, which failed to ensure adequate control over registering religious mass media outlets and protecting the information space of the state and autonomous republic. Currently, there are nine religious publications printed in the Crimea, with no documents attesting their registration available in the republican committee and no adequate oversight of their work done.
R. A.: Following the verifications, the prosecutor’s office filed a criminal suit and submitted eight memorandums related to violations of the laws on interfaith relations and demanded that disciplinary sanctions be imposed against a number of officials. The prosecutor’s office also sent its memorandums to peninsular government, head of the Crimean Republican Committee for Information, and the republic’s legislature.
How are religious buildings used in the Crimea? I recall conflicts in this area.
A. T.: In the years of Ukraine’s independence the number of religious structures or similar facilities has increased from 30 to 432. Religious organizations own 280 religious structures, using 152 of them, with another eighty built in this period for the money of religious organizations or foreign sponsors. Compared to 2000, there are many more houses of worship but still their number is far from what is needed, putting the Crimea into a bottom position in Ukraine in this respect. At present, over 80% of such structures have been returned to religious organizations, and this process is going on. In the wake of the decision by the coordinating council of the heads of law enforcement agencies affiliated to the Crimean Prosecutor’s Office, prosecutors jointly with the State Agency for Architectural and Construction Control, DASK, looked into the construction and repair of churches, revealing that 35 mosques, 14 churches, and eight similar facilities operate, while 23 mosques, eight churches, and five similar facilities are being built, without authorization by DASK. Following this, DASK has postponed ten construction projects, filing administrative suits against 18 unauthorized construction projects.
R. A.: Unfortunately, there have been three unauthorized seizures of places of worship by religious communities. For example, the mosque on Simferopol’s Luhova Street was occupied without permission in 1996-1997, but its owner, the Krymtrans Company, refused to take the case to court. The mosque on Malofontanna St. in Simferopol was also seized without permission by the Kady Makhale Muslim community. The Mosque of the Uzbeks is being used by the Vetan community is Stary Krym (Kirov rayon) without authorization, with no timely reaction from the official state structures.
A. T.: In some cases, the prosecutor’s office filed charges leading to reprimands of officials.
Recently, many so-called unconventional forms of religion have come into existence. Are they popular on the peninsula? What are the trends here?
A. T.: There has been a decline in interest for exotic cults and meditation techniques lately. Proof of it is the closure of the Krishna Conscience Society in Sudak and stoppage of the activities of two Bahai communities. Two Salvation Army communities failed to increase their sphere of influence, with the World Pure Religion, the so-called Sakhadja-Yoga, scrapping its public programs began in 2000 at the site of its registration in Simferopol and trying instead to reach rural residents. Despite the fact that representatives of the White Brotherhood, Aum Sinrike, Moon Unification Church, Blessed Virgin Center, and some other confessions live and circulate their publications in the autonomy, no organized activities of these religious groups have been observed.
R. A.: This year, the committee jointly with law enforcement agencies has suspended the activities of non-religious Sant Takara Singha (Sant Mat) movement in Simferopol and exposed a totalitarian group, Falingun, banned in China. These, as well as similar movements and groups, focused their activities on enrolling intellectuals and pensioners with past high positions in the state apparatus, economy, or public sector.
A. T.: In the wake of trials over the leaders of the so-called Satanist groups that committed criminal offenses, their activities in the Crimea have decreased significantly. There were no acts of desecration of Christian sacred places and large scale cemetery vandalism. In general, the interfaith scene has somewhat stabilized. Last year, no cases of conscientious objections from military service due to religious reasons were recorded.
Many churches and religious figures typically have active international links. Have these intensified or weakened of late?
A. T.: It should be mentioned, that international religious organizations have stepped up their activities, especially in Simferopol, Yalta, Yevpatoriya, and Feodosiya, with 85 to 88% of foreign visitors coming to these areas last year and in the past. Over 60% of all foreign missionaries preached in the republican center alone. This year, following the invitations of local religious organizations, the peninsula has been visited by nationals of 22 countries, with the majority coming from the United States, Germany, and Turkey. Quite a sizable part of foreigners are interested in the issues of cooperation among faiths. The number of missionaries and priests coming to the Crimea has increased over twofold since 1999. Simultaneously, the number of invitations to implement humanitarian programs has dropped. The most active international links are maintained by the communities of the Evangelical Christian Baptist Church, Islam, Evangelical Christian Faith, and a number of others.
