Türkiýe began to refuse to accept documents for a residence permit from Turkmens with “extended passports”.
According to several independent sources, since March 29, the Turkish migration services began to refuse to accept documents for the renewal of a residence permit (kimlik) for Turkmen citizens who have expired biometric passports, although they have an insert with a stamp on the renewal.
On July 5, 2021, the President of Turkmenistan, by a personal Decree, instructed "to extend until December 31, 2024 the validity of international passports of citizens of Turkmenistan temporarily staying or permanently residing abroad, the validity of which expires between January 1, 2023 - December 30, 2024." On the basis of the resolution, expired passports of Turkmen citizens began to be stamped with renewal marks.
On the Turkish websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Migration Service, we did not find official messages on this matter. Despite this, already today several citizens of Turkmenistan were denied a residence permit (kimlik). A similar situation was encountered by Turkmens who applied to the migration departments of the Esenyurt and Fatih districts of the city of Istanbul.
Recall that for several decades now, the issue of thousands of citizens who have passports of the 1996 model in their hands has “hung in the air” as well. Among them there are even people with Soviet passports issued in the TSSR. Basically, they are stateless.
The Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan avoids commenting on the current situation.
Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
