1. Citizenship Law
a. Jus Sanguinis and Jus Soli Provisions
National legislation on citizenship in Turkmenistan includes both jus soli and jus sanguinis provisions.[1]
Article 4(5) of the Law of Turkmenistan on the Citizenship of Turkmenistan enacted in 2013 specifically mentions that one of the principles which citizenship of Turkmenistan is based on is “prevention and reduction of statelessness”.[2] Children born to two parents (or a single parent) who are citizens of Turkmenistan will be a citizen regardless of birthplace.[3] If a child is born to one citizen parent and one stateless parent, missing parent, or unknown parent, the law provides that they will also be a citizen regardless of birthplace.[4]For children born to one parent who is a citizen and one parent who is a foreigner, the child will be a citizen if born within the territory of Turkmenistan.[5]If in the same case, the child was born outside of the territory, the child may still be eligible for citizenship if at least one parent is a habitual resident of Turkmenistan at the time of birth.[6] In the same case, if neither of the child’s parents are habitual residents, a joint application must be filed by the parents for citizenship of the child.[7] This provision, included in Article 11(1.5), further protects children in these circumstances by stating that if the child would otherwise be stateless, they will be granted citizenship of Turkmenistan.[8] Article 11(1)(5) applies only where both parents are habitually resident abroad and the child is born abroad.[9]
Stateless persons are defined in Article 8 of the ‑ as “persons who are not citizens of Turkmenistan and who have no proof of possessing the citizenship of any foreign state”.[10] This definition differs from that contained in the 1954 Statelessness Convention.[11] Under Article 8(2), Turkmenistan defines a stateless person as someone who is not a Turkmenistani citizen and cannot provide evidence of citizenship in any foreign country.[12] While approach places the evidentiary burden on the individual, by contrast, Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention defines a stateless person as someone who is not recognised as a national by any state under the operation of its law.[13] The 1954 Statelessness Convention therefore focuses on a person’s legal status under national laws, rather than on whether they can produce documentary proof of citizenship.
b. Naturalized Citizenship
Any “capable person” who is 18 years of age or older is eligible to apply for Turkmen citizenship as stipulated in Article 12 of the Law on Citizenship.[14] To do so, the individual must abide by the Constitution and laws of Turkmenistan, be able to communicate in the official language, be a habitual resident in the territory for five years, and have a legal source of income.[15] Habitual residency is accepted as long as the individual has not left the country for longer than a three month period in one year.[16]
A shortened period of habitual residence is accepted for Turkmen people and their descendents, former citizens of the USSR, those with outstanding achievements, persons granted asylum, and refugees, among others.[17] This notably does not include stateless persons. For former USSR citizens, Article 12(2)(2) applies only where they have a close relative in Turkmenistan or have arrived with the intention of establishing habitual residence.[18] Article 32 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons provides that such a process should be expedited for stateless persons to “reduce as far as possible the charges and costs of such proceedings”.[19]
c. Dual Citizenship
Provisions regarding dual citizenship are included in Article 5 of the Law.[20] Article 5(2) states that dual citizenship is not recognized, and that a citizen of Turkmenistan who holds the nationality of another state “shall be regarded exceptionally as a citizen of Turkmenistan”.[21] The Law does not provide provisions on the process of renunciation of previous citizenship of a different state when applying for Turkmen citizenship. The Law on Citizenship of Turkmenistan establishes vital structural safeguards designed to prevent individuals from becoming stateless. Under Article 16(3)(4) of the Act, an individual’s request to formally renounce their Turkmen nationality is legally blocked if the renunciation would directly result in that person losing all nationality and becoming stateless.[22] This protective principle also extends to families under Article 18(2), which dictates that when parents choose to renounce or subsequently lose their Turkmen citizenship, their child’s nationality status remains unaffected unless it is guaranteed that the child will not be rendered stateless as a consequence.[23]Furthermore, Article 21(8) provides explicit adoption protections for born citizens, ensuring that a child who is born within the territory of Turkmenistan and later adopted by a non-citizen or a stateless person retains their original Turkmen nationality, provided they would otherwise be left without any state citizenship.[24]
2. Treaty Ratification Status
| Country | Stateless 1 | Stateless 2 | Refugee | ICCPR | ICESCR | ICERD | CRC | CEDAW |
| Turkmenistan | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Article 3(2) of the Law of Turkmenistan on Citizenship of Turkmenistan states that “if an international treaty of Turkmenistan establishes rules that differ from those stipulated in the present Law, the rules of the international treaty shall be applied.”[25]
The 2024 review by the Committee on the Rights of the Child nevertheless demonstrates that the practical application of these principles remains relevant. The Committee asked Turkmenistan to clarify the mechanisms available for the naturalisation of stateless children and their family members, as well as the collection and sharing of data concerning stateless children.[26] Turkmenistan responded that its migration authorities, local agencies and police conduct status-identification exercises, record stateless persons in a registry and notify UNHCR.
The 2024 CRC review also indicates that Turkmenistan has adopted or implemented measures intended to prevent childhood statelessness, including birthright citizenship provisions, safeguards for children of stateless mothers where paternity is established, and a rule granting citizenship to children of unknown parents residing in Turkmenistan.[28] However, the Committee’s questions about naturalisation procedures, data collection and cooperation with UNHCR suggest that the existence of these provisions should not be treated as conclusive evidence that all stateless children can access citizenship effectively.[29]
Turkmenistan is one of only three states in the entire Asia-Pacific region to achieve perfect treaty ratification status. Turkmenistan has ratified all international treaties pertaining to statelessness with no reservations and is the first and only country in Central Asia to have ratified the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.[30] The 1954 Convention includes protections of the rights to education, employment, housing, identity, travel documents, and administrative assistance.[31] Adding to this, the 1961 Convention seeks to prevent and eventually end statelessness, including protections for the right to nationality for every person ensures proper legal safeguards in nationality laws to prevent statelessness.[32]The 1961 Convention also protects children who would otherwise be stateless by ensuring their citizenship in their country of birth if they are not eligible for citizenship elsewhere.[33]
In 2018, the CERD Committee in its concluding observations recommended that Turkmenistan improve its data collection and reporting of stateless persons and expedite the process of eliminating statelessness within its territory.[34] Additionally, in 2018, the CEDAW Committee in its concluding observations noted the need for improving statistics on the stateless population and improving the statelessness determination procedure in Turkmenistan, particularly due to compounded marginalization of stateless women and girls. [35]
As a party to the ICCPR, Turkmenistan is bound to protect freedom of movement.[36] Reports that the Turkmenistan government has been requesting citizens to give up their passports and halt applications for passports, the main citizenship certifying document in Turkmenistan, are in direct violation of its obligations to the ICCPR.[37]
Independent human rights monitors continue to report systemic passport restrictions, forced confiscations, and refusal to issue international passports to citizens abroad (especially in Türkiye), as a mechanism of population control and restriction of movement.[38]
Turkmenistan’s Pledges to End Statelessness
In 2019, the Turkmenistan government established the National Action Plan to End Statelessness intended to resolve all existing cases of statelessness and ensure proper legal safeguards against statelessness by 2024.[39] As of 2022, the reported stateless population in Turkmenistan is still quite high, as discussed in the Population section, making the possibility of following through on this pledge slim. Between 2022 and late 2024, Turkmenistan granted citizenship to thousands of remaining stateless individuals via successive Presidential Decrees (including conferring citizenship to the final batch of 1,146 stateless individuals in September 2024).[40] UNHCR officially announced in late 2024 that Turkmenistan successfully met its National Action Plan targets through presidential decrees and systemic documentation drives, resolving statelessness within its territory by late 2024.[41]
Turkmenistan also made three pledges pertaining to statelessness at the High-Level Segment on Statelessness in 2019.[42] The pledges include commitments to undertake a widespread registration campaign to register and improve statistics on stateless persons and ensure that all stateless persons have a fundamental right to citizenship, resolve all identified cases of statelessness, and redefine the definition of the status of stateless persons and end the risk of statelessness for children of undocumented people by realizing the National Action Plan in the upcoming 2022 Population Census.[43] To date, there have been limited improvements in the identification of stateless persons and in the availability of official statistics on the stateless population. Rather than providing a new statutory definition of statelessness, Turkmenistan has instituted a Statelessness Determination Procedure to assess status based on the definition already set out in its law.
In 2024, however, UNHCR applauded Turkmenistan for resolving all known cases of statelessness at the time. [44] A new definition of the status of stateless persons has also not yet been solidified in national legislation. Commendably, however, Turkmenistan has taken steps towards ensuring universal birth registration for all children in the country, especially those born to undocumented parents.[45]
