Over the past few weeks, controversy has emerged in Turkmenistan over what is termed a ‘dual citizenship and passport fiasco’ in the country. The Turkmen authorities unexpectedly announced the cancellation of the dual Turkmen-Russian citizenship and started enforcing this regulation at the airports, seaport and railway stations across the country. Since the news were first not publicly announced in the media, a sudden enforcement of these regulations caught the holders of a double citizenship by surprise and created confusion among those wanting to travel abroad.

On July 2, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov held a plenary session of the National Security Council and listened to reports from the heads of law enforcement agencies, including the State Border Services, the Minister of National Security, the Prosecutor General, the Minister of Interior, the Chief of Justice, Turkmenistan’s State Migration Service and the State Customs Control. Addressing the heads of these law enforcement agencies, Berdimuhamedov stressed the need for conducting “systematic security-related events” at the airports, seaports and railway stations. Exactly what these events would imply was not clear from the content of the president’s televised speech. However, confusion escalated immediately as the State Migration Services started tightening their screening procedures and preventing citizens with dual citizenship from traveling abroad starting from early July.

An agreement between Turkmenistan and Russia on dual citizenship is in force since 1993, and thousands of residents in Turkmenistan had then obtained Russian citizenship, which allows many opportunities for both visa-free traveling and work inside and outside Russia. Currently, only an estimated 100,000 holders of a double citizenship reside in the country. Berdimuhamedov’s recent order to “introduce systematic security related events” has caused confusion and resentment among the holders of dual citizenship and is the second attempt by Turkmenistan to fully revoke the 1993 agreement with Russia. 

In April 2003, Turkmenistan’s former president Saparmurat Niyazov and then Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to terminate the bilateral agreement on a dual citizenship as they reached a deal on gas pricing and signed a historical pact to deliver Turkmen gas to Russia over the following 25 years. Many interpreted Russia’s acceptance to terminate the dual citizenship as a tradeoff for a lucrative gas deal with Turkmenistan. This caused massive resentment among certain politicians in Moscow and created an uneasy situation for the Russians living in Turkmenistan. The lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma, then accepted a resolution condemning the termination of the dual citizenship and proclaimed that dual citizenship would not be officially revoked until ratified by parliament. Despite the fact that Turkmenistan had unilaterally given Russian citizens in Turkmenistan a deadline in April 2003 to choose between two citizenships, the cancellation of dual citizenship was not fully implemented until Berdimuhamedov decided to pick up the issue where it was left by his predecessor.

Turkmen Migration officials are now telling the holders of a dual citizenship that in order to travel abroad, they should either renounce their Russian citizenship and apply for a new Turkmen passport or give up their Turkmen citizenship by choosing a Russian citizenship and leave Turkmenistan permanently. To meet the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) security requirements, Turkmenistan was the first country in Central Asia to introduce a new passport with biometric information in July 10, 2008, and current Turkmen passports are valid for traveling abroad only until July 10, 2013. Holders of dual citizenship cannot obtain this new passport unless they renounce their Russian and choose a Turkmen citizenship. Nor are they allowed to leave the country with their current Turkmen passports.  Facing escalating resentment from people prevented from exiting Turkmenistan, the authorities pasted fliers at the airports stating that the holders of a dual citizenship obtained after 2003 must choose between two citizenships in order to be able to travel abroad.

It remains unclear why the authorities suddenly decided to revoke the dual citizenship. The only explanation given so far is the official statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that article seven of the Constitution of Turkmenistan accepted in 2008 does not allow a citizen of Turkmenistan to hold a citizenship of another state. The people who have gone through a nerve wrecking experience at Ashgabat airport raise many questions as to why the authorities gave only last minute notice and never published information about the new regulations in the media in advance, and why they were introduced during the summer time when many travel abroad for vacation, work or study. It is important to recall that at about the same time last summer, the authorities suddenly imposed a travel ban on hundreds of students who were studying at private universities abroad at their own expense without government support.

According to some dual citizenship holders, the Russian government chose not to intervene in Turkmenistan’s internal affairs and only decided to issue multiple entry visas and introduce simplified travel procedures for those who would choose a Turkmen citizenship but would still want to travel to Russia. However, neither the Russian government nor the Russian embassy in Ashgabat has so far released an official statement on this.