The Turkmen authorities are now allowing students to travel to Tajikistan to resume their studies, after halting them in early September for reasons never explained, the independent web site chrono-tm.org reports. Yet only senior students have been permitted to depart from Turkmenistan, leaving many hundreds in limbo.
On August 1, Turkmen youths who had been studying in Tajikistan and returned home for the summer holiday were barred from returning to Tajikistan to resume their studies. Many of them contacted Turkmenistan’s Migration Office and other agencies for an explanation.
Ultimately, the Migration Office lifted the travel ban on education in Tajikistan, and word quickly spread among students. A group of students from the Lebap velayat (province) decided to test the new policy by attempting to cross the Turkmen-Uzbek border at the Farap checkpoint. But only four out of a dozen students -- all seniors -- managed to cross the border.
Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.