16 June 2004 12:16
Russian rights ombudsman slams Turkmenistan for dual citizenship ban
[Presenter] Our compatriots in Turkmenia [Turkmenistan] are living outside the civilized rule of law, Human Rights
Commissioner Vladimir Lukin said, commenting on the position of Russian speakers in Turkmenistan.
He said stripping Russian nationals of dual citizenship - even though many had obtained it before the new Turkmen law
was passed - was a blatant violation of human rights.
[Lukin] The Turkmen side decided that if we suggested not keeping the dual citizenship institution, then all those
who had dual citizenship should lose it. This clearly goes against all the laws that exists throughout the world, except
for some very peculiar places.
[Presenter] Vladimir Lukin recalled that in Turkmenia, where about 70,000 Russian speakers live, teaching in Russian
at schools had been cut drastically, Russian television was virtually non-existent, and our compatriots had no right to
set up their own public organizations.
The human rights commissioner stressed that the Russian Foreign Ministry was making efforts to change the situation
but, in his view, so far these had been futile.
[RTR Russia TV] |
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