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Kazakhstan

From Bahaipedia
 Kazakhstan
Attendees at the Almaty Regional Conference, 2008.
Location of Kazakhstan
National AssemblyKazakhstan
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[1] 19,196,465
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source  
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 8,256
History:
Firsts
 -  National Assembly 1994 
Related media
Categories: Kazakhstan • People

The Republic of Kazakhstan is a country in Central Asia. Its official languages are Kazakh and Russian although there are several other languages widely spoken in the country. The predominant religion is Islam and there is also a large Christian community

The region has been inhabited since prehistory and has historically been inhabited by nomadic groups including the Scythians and the Mongols and the Kazakh Khanate was formed in the 15th century. In the 18th and 19th century the area was conquered by the Russian Empire and it became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1936. The country became an independent Republic at the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Bahá’í Faith faced severe repression and persecution in Soviet territories as such a community was not firmly established when the Faith began to expand globally during the 1950's. Restrictions relaxed as the Soviet Union began to dismantle and in 1994 a National Spiritual Assembly of Kazakhstan was elected.[2]

History[edit]

Bahá’í communities were established in the Russian Empire in the late 19th century and it is possible some Bahá’ís settled in Kazakhstan in this period,[3] however the Soviet Union adopted policies to restrict the Bahá’í Faith and conditions became increasingly oppressive from 1928 to 1938 with Bahá’ís in Soviet territories being imprisoned or deported and all Bahá’í institutions were disbanded.[4] Some Bahá’ís were sent to concentration camps located in Northern Kazakhstan in the 1930's.[5]

At the opening of the Ten Year Crusade in 1953 an Asia Teaching Committee was formed and was set the goal of establishing the Faith in Kazakhstan,[6] however it was later found that there were already Bahá’ís resident in the country prior to the beginning of the Crusade and Shoghi Effendi reported that Kazakhstan was opened to the Faith in an April 1956 message. It had been assumed the country had no Bahá’í community as there had been no contact with the Bahá’ís in the country.[7][8][9]

In 1964 the Universal House of Justice set the Bahá’í community the goal of establishing a Local Spiritual Assembly in Kazakhstan by 1973 if circumstances permmitted however the goal was not achieved likely due to government restrictions in the Soviet Union.[10][11] The Universal House of Justice assigned the Continental Board for Western Asia the responsibility of overseeing Bahá’í activity in Kazakhstan in 1973,[12] and during the 1970's a small amount of Bahá’ís were able to settle in the country.[13]

Restrictions on religion began to relax in the Soviet Union throughout the 1980's,[14] and as of 1986 there were approximately five hundred Bahá’ís collectively in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzekistan.[15] In 1990 the Universal House of Justice launched a Two Year Teaching Plan focused on expanding and consolidating the Bahá’í Faith in all Soviet territories with goals for Kazakhstan being establishing one Local Spiritual Assembly and one Bahá’í group and as of 1992 an Assembly had been formed and one additional locality had been opened to the Faith.[16]

In 1992 a Regional Spiritual Assembly for Central Asia was formed which was responsible for Kazakhstan,[17][18] and an independent National Spiritual Assembly of Kazakhstan was formed in 1994 with its seat in Almaty.[19][20] Lauretta King represented the Universal House of Justice at the first National Convention of Kazakhstan,[21] and by December 1994 the new National Assembly had been officially registered as a religious body with the Kazakhstan Ministry of Justice.[22]

A National Deepening Institute was established in Kazakhstan following the formation of its National Assembly and it had held ten institute courses by January 1996 and that month it held its first course dedicated to training children's class teachers.[23] In April 1997 the Bahá’í International Community was represented at the International Ecology Congress held in Kazakhstan,[24] and in 1998 a training conference on Bahá’í administration was held in Taraz and attended by representatives of eleven Bahá’í communities from across the country.[25] In December 1999 the Bahá’í community of Kazakhstan was represented at a Round Table discussion on freedom of conscience, belief, and religion conducted by the countries Office of Democratic Institutes and Human Rights in Almaty, and an international Bahá’í Winter School was held in Almaty in January 2000 which was attended by 270 people.[26]

As of 2001 there were twenty-five Local Spiritual Assemblies and Bahá’í groups officially registered with the Kazakhstan government,[27][28] however despite its dramatic growth the countries Bahá’í community began to experience challenges with religious minorities of Kazakhstan beginning to face some oppression as of 2000.[29] In 2001 an article hostile to the Faith was published,[27] during a wave of general hostility towards religious minorities.[30] In December 2001 the government of Kazakhstan voted against a United Nations General Assembly Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran which condemned the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran,[31] and in 2002 a law instituting restrictions on religious minorities was drafted. Restrictive policies were lifted in 2004 and religious minorities including the Bahá’í Faith no longer faced government repression.[32]

In December 2008 a Regional Bahá’í Conference for Central Asia was held in Almaty which had 650 attendees from six countries at which the Five Year Plan was discussed. Zenaida Ramirez and Ayman Rouhani represented the Universal House of Justice at the conference and it was reported that six intensive programs of growth had been established in Kazakhstan.[33] In 2010 seminars conducted by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity for university students began to be held in Kazakhstan,[34] and in August 2013 a major Youth Conference attended by 300 youth from four Central Asian countries was held in Almaty.[35] A delegation of the Bahá’í International Community participated in the 2015 World Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions held in Astana, Kazakhstan,[36] and in 2017 the Kazakhstan Deputy Minister for Religious Affairs and Civil Society issued a statement honoring the Bicentenary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh.[37]

In 2020 the Bahá’í community of Kazakhstan convened an online discussion with leading academics, government officials, and religious representatives of the country on social cohesion,[38] and in 2022 a member of Kazakhstan's Bahá’í Office of External Affairs was invited to represent the Faith at the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions held in Astana.[39] In 2024 the Bahá’í community of Kazakhstan produced a documentary titled For the Betterment of Society which explored the contributions of Bahá’í initiatives in the country to fostering unity and overcoming prejudice.[40]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  2. ↑ The Bahá’í Faith: 1844-1963: Information Statistical and Comparative, Including the Achievements of the Ten Year International Bahá’í Teaching & Consolidation Plan 1953-1963, Compiled by Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land, pages 22 and 46.
  3. ↑ "Statement on the history of the Bahá'í Faith in Soviet Union". Official Website of the Bahá’ís of Kyiv. Local Spiritual Assembly of Kyiv. 2007-8. Retrieved 2008-04-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 196. View as PDF.
  5. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 946. View as PDF.
  6. ↑ Baha'i News (1953). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 269, Pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 108. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ Effendi, Shoghi (collected letters from 1947-57). Citadel of Faith. Haifa, Palestine: US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1980 third printing. p. 107. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  9. ↑ Baha'i News (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 303, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
  10. ↑ Baha'i News (1964). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 401, Pg(s) 1. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ U.S. Supplement, No. 89, p 1
  12. ↑ Baha'i News (1973). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 509, Pg(s) 23. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2000). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 27 (1998-1999), Pg(s) 189. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ Momen, Moojan. "Russia". Draft for "A Short Encyclopedia of the Bahá’í Faith". Bahá’í Academics Resource Library. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
  15. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 215. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 223. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 199. View as PDF.
  18. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 199. View as PDF.
  19. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 22 (1993-1994), Pg(s) 82. View as PDF.
  20. ↑ 26 November 1993 message from the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies
  21. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 29. View as PDF.
  22. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 132. View as PDF.
  23. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1997). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 24 (1995-1996), Pg(s) 117. View as PDF.
  24. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1999). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 26 (1997-1998), Pg(s) 43. View as PDF.
  25. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2000). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 27 (1998-1999), Pg(s) 108. View as PDF.
  26. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2001). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 28 (1999-2000), Pg(s) 74. View as PDF.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Government of Kazakhstan (2001). "Religious Groups in Kazakhstan". 2001 Census. Embassy of Kazakhstan to the USA & Canada. Archived from the original on 2006-10-31. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  28. ↑ Balkina, Valeriya (2001). "Kazakhstan "target of religious aggression" from Bahai faith[sic]". Ekspress-K (Kazakhstan). BBC Monitoring Central Asia - Ekspress-K. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  29. ↑ "Kazakhstan - International Religious Freedom Report 2001". The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affair. 2001-10-26. Retrieved 2008-05-21. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  30. ↑ "Kazakhstan - International Religious Freedom Report 2002". The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affair. 2002-10-07. Retrieved 2008-05-21. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  31. ↑ Community, Bahá’í International (2006). "UN General Assembly Resolution 2001". Bahá’í Topics. Bahá’í International Community. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  32. ↑ Rotar, Igor (2004-02-10). "KAZAKHSTAN: Religious freedom survey, February 2004". F18News Archive. F18News. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  33. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/community-news/regional-conferences/almaty.html
  34. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1266/
  35. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/community-news/youth-conferences/almaty.html
  36. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1060/
  37. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1196/slideshow/3/
  38. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1420/
  39. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1622/
  40. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1759/

External links[edit]

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