In the early summer of 2020, Central Asian migrant workers and students in Russia faced a horrifying problem: capital and jobs were running out and a lack of flights home meant an inability to escape their newfound impoverishment. Turkmen international students, however, still stranded in Russia were fighting another fight: the restriction of financial support from their home government.
As one of the most repressive nations on Earth, Turkmenistan, a country that has stressed the return of Turkmen migrants since its inception, has made it increasingly difficult to leave its borders permanently. For a largely impoverished people, studying abroad or sending a child overseas provides a rare chance to leave the nation. Migrant workers from Turkmenistan still routinely arrive in nations like Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. However the number of those able to participate in labor migration is shrinking.
In 2018, after a census ordered by President and “Arkadag” Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov showed that almost 2 million Turkmen citizens had fled the country in 10 years, the census results were shelved and Turkmen citizens on outbound international flights were pulled from their seats by security officials. An anonymous source for Radio Free Europe explained that “Employees of the migration service said that an order was received from above, according to which no one is given permission to leave until the age of 40. When asked about the reason for the ban, they said that there was no one left in the velayat who was able to work. They said that if you all leave who will work?”
In 2019, the list of state-approved international universities where Turkmen students could study was drastically cut, leaving many students unsure of whether or not their degrees and education would be recognized. Many more were left unable to attend the small list of colleges due to them being some of the most expensive and competitive universities in the world.
Now in 2020, a $200 a month limit on wire transfers to students alongside a refusal of the central bank to process and approve many of the transfers adds even more pressure for citizens to remain in or return to Turkmenistan. The Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan will provide assistance to these students upon request on the condition that they do not return to their country of employment or study when returning home on holiday.
This forcible recall of migrants by their home countries is not unique to Turkmenistan. We know that during the forced migration of Greeks and Turks under the Treaty of Lausanne that the Turkish and Greek governments forbade the return of their expelled peoples to their homelands. Though they may have been returned to a land where violence against their respective religious communities was far rarer, each group was trapped behind legal and bureaucratic bars in autocratic states (the monarchy of Greece and the Ataturk regime of Turkey).
What separates these two events, however, is that the autocratic nation the Turkmen people are barred from leaving is their homeland, and the events forcing their movement are a systematic layering of policies, rather than a single mandate. Just two weeks ago, a policy allowing dual citizens to board chartered evacuation flights from Turkmenistan was rendered null after dual Turkmen-Russian citizens reportedly threw away their Turkmen passports upon boarding a flight. Families have now been barred from joining those who have already left and no one has been granted permission from the state migration service to leave in days. No answers have been given and it’s unclear how long the ban will remain.
Though there is no direct evidence of a singular Turkmen policy compelling the return of a fleeing intelligentsia, the accumulation of travel restrictions under the Coronavirus and tighter social controls in a cash-strapped economy have effectively created the environment for such policies to flourish. Countries hosting migrant workers have requested their repatriation, nationalist economic policies spurred by the financial crisis are restricting visas, and civil protests are threatening autocratic systems worldwide. It seems that the forced, mass return of migrants from Turkmenistan is not only logical for their “Arkadag,” but guaranteed.
Two million citizens have left the country in 10 years. With a massive constitutional change for the nation coming, it’s unclear if President Berdimuhammedow, first of his dynasty, will ever make that a possibility again.
References
Habartm. (2020, August 30). Vengeful Migration Service Won’t Let Its Citizens Leave Turkmenistan. Retrieved September 13, 2020, from https://en.turkmen.news/news/vengeful-migration-service-won-t-let-its-citizens-leave-turkmenistan/
Najibullah, F., & Service, R. (2019, June 08). If you don’t like the results of the first census, order a second one. Retrieved September 13, 2020, from https://www.rferl.org/a/escape-from-turkmenistan-almost-2-million-have-fled-but-the-president-won-t-hear-of-it/29987972.html
Najibullah, F., & Service, R. (2020, July 28). Turkmenistan Squeezes Students Abroad, Pressuring Them To Return Home. Retrieved September 13, 2020, from https://www.rferl.org/a/turkmenistan-squeezes-students-abroad-pressuring-them-to-return-home/30753787.html
Nechepurenko, I., & Ponomarev, S. (2020, June 15). For Migrants in Russia, Virus Means No Money to Live and No Way to Leave. Retrieved September 13, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/world/europe/russia-coronavirus-migrant-workers.html
What a fascinating subject. Thank you for shedding some light on the situation in Turkmenistan– I also liked how you tied it to the forced returns of Turks under Ataturk. Is there any specific reason for the mass emigration of citizens of Turkmenistan? Or, is it a combination of factors? Is the restriction on emigration truly due to labor shortage issues or are there other reasons for for Berdimuhammedow’s policies?
Hi Nikhail, thank you for researching this important subject! I have some friends in the U.S. who are students from Turkmenistan. Despite spending a good amount of time in Central Asia, these friends of mine are the first Turkmen nationals I’d ever met. They are constantly struggling with feelings of loving their homeland and missing their families, but also having no intention to return since they cannot foresee having real lives in Turkmenistan. I wish the situation could somehow improve.
Good research, Nikhil! Although it has long been difficult for Turkmens to leave Turkmenistan, your sweep of recent press articles convinces me that the bonds are tightening even more. Turkey still has no visa barriers for Turkmens, so aside from Russia, that is usually the place they go to find work abroad. But Turkmenistan uses pressure on family members to coerce return, and now apparently it also limits remittances–another way of pressuring those who have left.
In theory, Turkmenistan should be a wealthy country, as it exports massive amounts of natural gas. However, resources like that are easy for the government to control, so the dictator spends the money on his own whims. Turkmenistan is not developing a diversified economy. Many people have inadequate incomes, little work and little opportunity for improving life as long as they stay in Turkmenistan.