Country report and updates: Turkmenistan
1 Conscription
conscription exists
Turkmenistan decided to create its own armed forces in early 1992. However, their first full-scale military exercises did not occur until October 1995. [2]
military service
Military service lasts for two years - although according to another source the period is 18 months. [4] [6]
postponement and exemption
No information available.
recruitment
No information available.
2 Conscientious objection
The right to conscientious objection is not legally recognized and there are no provisions for substitute service. [5]
There are no known cases of conscripts openly refusing to perform military service.
3 Draft evasion and desertion
penalties
Minister of Defence Kopekov stated in 1992 that legislation was being drafted whereby deserters would face "very severe measures, including criminal responsibility". [3]
No further details about this are known.
practice
Draft evasion is widespread and has increased significantly since Turkmenistan became an independent state. It is caused by the poor conditions and human rights violations within the armed forces. Crime is a serious problem in the armed forces: in 1996 even President Niyazov referred to the problem of arms sales, drug smuggling and even the 'sale' of conscripts in remote garrisons by garrison leaders to local farmers. [2]
Desertion too is widespread. In 1994 there was said to be a 20 percent desertion rate - which would indicate approximately 2,000 soldiers deserted from the armed forces that year. [1]
It is not known how far draft evasion and desertion are actually monitored and punished.
6 Annual statistics
The armed forces are 16,000 to 18,000-strong - that is, about 0.40 percent of the population. [4]
Every year approximately 40,000 men reach conscription age. [4]
Sources
[1] Shishlevskiy, Valentin 1994. 'The Evolution of Turkmenistan's Armed Forces', in: Asian Defence Journal, 7/1994. [2] Kangas, Roger D. 1996. 'With an Eye on Russia, Central Asian Militaries Practice Cooperation', in: Transition, 9 August 1996. [3] Amnesty International 1992. Concerns in Europe November 1991 - April 1992. AI, London. [4] Institute for Strategic Studies 1997. Military Balance 1997/98. ISS, London. [5] Amnesty International 1997. Out of the margins, the right to conscientious objections to military service in Europe. AI, London. [6] UN Commission on Human Rights, 1997. The question of conscientious objection to military service, report of the Secretary-General prepared pursuant to Commission resolution 1995/83. United Nations, Geneva.
Recent CO action alerts: Turkmenistan
Recent stories on conscientious objection: Turkmenistan
In a surprise move, the regime freed from prison on 8 May all 16 of Turkmenistan's known jailed conscientious objectors in a prisoner amnesty. The 16 – all of them Jehovah's Witnesses – were serving jail terms of between one and four years. They are among the very few prisoners of conscience - including political prisoners - ever to be freed in the regular prisoner amnesties.
On 16 March the regime jailed another conscientious objector to military service for two years, the eighth such 2021 jailing. Like six of the other 2021 jailings, 21-year-old Jehovah's Witness Rasul Rozbayev is being punished for the second time on the same charges. The jailings ignore a December 2020 appeal by four UN special procedures. A March 2020 regime report to the UN insisted that defending the country "is the sacred duty of every citizen".
20-year-old conscientious objector Nazar Alliyev was sentenced to one year in prison for refusing compulsory military service. He is the seventh conscientious objector being jailed in 2021 so far in Turkmenistan and joins 14 other conscientious objectors currently in prison (9 of them serving second sentences).