The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake seriously damaged the building and rendered it unsafe ; the heavy rains of the following years weakened the structure . It was demolished in 1963 and the site converted into a public park . With the Soviet ban on religion , the Bahá ' ís , strictly adhering to their principle of obedience to legal government , abandoned its administration and its properties were nationalized . By 1938 , with the NKVD ( Soviet secret police ) and the policy of religious oppression most Bahá ' ís were sent to prisons and camps or abroad ; Bahá ' í communities in 38 cities ceased to exist . In the case of Ashgabat , Bahá ' í sources indicate on 5 February the members of the assembly , leaders of the community and some general members of the community to a total of 500 people were arrested , homes were searched and all records and literature were confiscated ( claiming they were working for the advantage of foreigners ) , and sometimes forced to dig their own graves as part of the interrogation . It is believed one woman set fire to herself and died later in a hospital . The women and children were largely exiled to Iran . In 1953 Bahá ' ís started to move to the Soviet Republics in Asia , after the head of the religion at the time , Shoghi Effendi , initiated a plan called the Ten Year Crusade . The Bahá ' ís who moved to Turkmenistan found some individual Bahá ' ís living there though the religion remained unorganized . During the 1978-9 civil war in Afghanistan some Bahá ' ís fled to Turkmenistan . The first Bahá ' í Local Spiritual Assembly in the Soviet Union was elected in Ashgabat , Turkmenistan , when conditions permitted it in 1989 ; 61 Bahá ' ís were listed as eligible for election . The Local Spiritual Assembly was officially registered by the city council of Ashgabat on 31 January 1990 . Through the rest of 1990 several Local Spiritual Assemblies formed across the Soviet Union including Moscow , Ulan-Ude , Kazan , Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk , Leningrad , and Murmansk . In September 1990 , 26 Baha'is gathered together for the election of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Merv . By September 1991 , there were some 800 known Baha'is and 23 Local Spiritual Assemblies across the dissolving Soviet Union , while in Turkmenistan there were about 125 Bahá ' ís with two Local Assemblies and two groups ( in Balakhanih and Bayranali ) . When the National Spiritual Assembly of the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1992 , a regional National Spiritual Assembly for the whole of Central Asia ( Turkmenistan , Kazakhstan , Kirgizia , Tajikistan , and Uzbekistan ) was formed with its seat in Ashgabat . Most of these countries went on to form their own National Spiritual Assembly , and their communities went on to flourish ( see Bahá ' í Faith in Kazakhstan . ) Since its inception , the religion has had involvement in socio-economic development &mdash; beginning by giving greater freedom to women . promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern , That involvement was given practical expression by creating schools , agricultural coops , and clinics . The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice dated 20 October 1983 was released . Bahá ' ís were urged to seek out ways , compatible with the Bahá ' í teachings , in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities where they lived . World-wide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá ' í socio-economic development projects . By 1987 , the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482 . As the environment of Perestroika took hold across the Soviet Block , the Bahá ' í community of Ashgabat was the first to re-form its Local Spiritual Assembly following the oppressive decades of Soviet rule , had doubled its numbers from 1989 to 1991 , and had successfully registered with the city government of Ashgabat
1948 Ashgabat earthquake
1948 Ashgabat earthquake
Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan