The State Migration Service of Turkmenistan on Saturday hosted a ceremony of handing Turkmen passports to stateless persons who were earlier granted Turkmenistan’s citizenship, and handing residence permits to foreign citizens in the country.
The ceremony followed the Resolution of the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov signed on Friday on granting the citizenship of Turkmenistan and the Presidential Deсree on issuing a group of foreign citizens a residence permit.
In accordance with the documents, 1,530 stateless persons of 26 nationalities permanently residing in the country have become citizens of Turkmenistan, and 315 people, which are representing 23 nationalities and are citizens of 9 countries, obtained a residence permit in the country.
The event was attended by the Head of the State Migration Service Nazar Atagarayev and employees of the service, UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan Dmitry Shlapachenko, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat John MacGregor, the UNDP Resident Representative in Turkmenistan Narine Sahakyan, persons who were granted the citizenship, and the media.
Thus, to date, 29,697 stateless persons have received the citizenship of Turkmenistan.
In his speech, the UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan Dmitry Shlapachenko expressed his gratitude to the government of Turkmenistan for its efforts to reduce statelessness.
In 2021, 2,657 stateless persons were granted Turkmenistan’s citizenship.
