BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 24. Some 27,500 refugees and stateless persons have been granted Turkmen nationality since 1995, UNHCR Representative for Central Asia, Hans Friedrich Schodder told Trend.
"In the country, another 1,530 stateless persons were granted citizenship of Turkmenistan in September 2022. For more than twenty years, the organization has been assisting the country in developing its capacity to receive refugees, determine their status, and provide assistance, protection, and integration. UNHCR expects that by September 2023, the last 13 refugees in Turkmenistan will become citizens of this country," the UNHCR representative said.
He noted that at the end of 2021, the Parliament of Turkmenistan adopted the Law on Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons which established a statelessness determination procedure.
"UNHCR enjoys engaging with Turkmenistan’s youth, including SDG Youth Ambassadors and students of the Preventive Diplomacy Academy. The organization conducts lectures for young people on key aspects of refugee protection and statelessness and organizes competitions aimed at developing young people’s knowledge of international law," the representative of the organization added.