Print the Constitution of Turkmenistan
as of 26 September 2008
We, the people of Turkmenistan,
based on our inalienable right to shape our destiny;
assuming the responsibility for the present and future of the Fatherland;
expressing our loyalty to the behests of our forefathers to live in unity, peace and agreement;
aspiring to protect our national values and interests, strengthen the great independence, sovereignty and permanent neutrality Turkmenistan;
guaranteeing the rights and liberties of every man and citizen, and striving to secure civil peace and national accord, and assert the foundations of democracy and a democratic, secular and rule-of-law state,
Are approving the Constitution, the Fundamental Law of Turkmenistan, as follows.
SECTION I.
FOUNDATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM
ARTICLE 1. Turkmenistan is a democratic, rule-of-law and secular state in which government is organized in the form of a presidential republic.
Turkmenistan has a supremacy and fullness of authority in its territory, and independently implements internal and external policies. Turkmenistan’s state sovereignty and territory are single and indivisible.
The state protects the independence and territorial integrity of Turkmenistan and its constitutional system, and ensures legality and rule of law.
Turkmenistan has a legal status of permanent neutrality. The United Nations Organization, in the General Assembly Resolution The Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan of 12 Bitaraplyk (December) 1995: “1. recognizes and supports Turkmenistan’s declared status of permanent neutrality; 2. calls on the member states of the United Nations Organization to respect and support this status of Turkmenistan and also respect its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Turkmenistan’s permanent neutrality recognized by the international community is the basis of its internal and external policies.
ARTICLE 2. The people are the carrier of sovereignty and the only source of state authority in Turkmenistan. The people of Turkmenistan exercise their authority directly or through representative bodies.
No part of the people, or organization, or individuals may forcibly take power in the state.
ARTCLE 3. The highest value of society and state in Turkmenistan is the human being.
The state is responsible to each citizen and secures conditions for the free development of a personality, and protects life, honor, dignity and freedom, personal inviolability, and a citizen’s natural and inalienable rights. The citizen, too, is responsible to the state for exercising the duties vested in him by the Constitution and other laws.
ARTICLE 4. The state power is based on the separation of power principle and split between legislative, executive and judiciary branches of government, which are independent and balance each other
ARTICLE 5. The state and all its bodies and officials are bound by the law and constitutional system.
The Constitution of Turkmenistan is the supreme Law of the State, and the standards and provisions it enshrines have direct action. The laws and other legal acts that contradict the Constitution are legally invalid.
The normative legal acts of bodies of state power and government and local self-governance are published for general public knowledge and promulgated otherwise, except for laws that contain state secrets and other information that is protected by the law. Normative legal acts relating to the rights and liberties of citizens that have not been made general public knowledge are invalid from the date of their adoption
ARTICLE 6. Turkmenistan as a full-fledged subject of the international community, its foreign policy subscribes to the principles of permanent neutrality, non-intervention in other countries’ internal affairs, repudiation of the use of force or participation in military blocs and alliances, and promotion of peaceful, amicable and mutually advantageous relations with other countries of the region and countries of the whole world. Turkmenistan recognizes the precedence of generally recognized norms of international law. If an international treaty of Turkmenistan establishes other rules than those stipulated in the legislation of Turkmenistan, the rules of international treaty shall apply.
ARTICLE 7. Turkmenistan has a citizenship. Citizenship is acquired, retained and forfeited in accordance with the law.
A citizen of Turkmenistan is not recognized as holding the citizenship of another state.
Nobody may be deprived of one’s citizenship and the right to change one’s citizenship. A citizen of Turkmenistan may not be handed to another state or banished outside Turkmenistan, or restrained in his right to return to the Homeland.
Citizens of Turkmenistan are guaranteed the protection and patronage of the state both within Turkmenistan and outside it.
ARTICLE 8. Foreign citizens and stateless persons enjoy the rights and liberties of citizens of Turkmenistan and carry out duties in accordance with the law and international treaties of Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan grants asylum to foreign citizens and stateless persons in accordance with generally recognized norms of international law and the procedures established by the law.
ARTICLE 9. Ownership is inviolable. Turkmenistan upholds the right of private ownership to means of production, land, and other material and intellectual values. These may also be owned by associations of citizens and by the state. The law establishes entities that are in exclusive ownership of the state. The state guarantees equal protection and equal conditions for the development of all types and forms of ownership.
No property may be confiscated, except for property acquired in a manner that is prohibited by the law
Forced alienation of property for charge is allowed only in cases envisaged by the law.
ARTICLE 10. Turkmenistan’s economy is based on the principles of market relationships. The State encourages and supports entrepreneurship and promotes small and medium businesses
ARTICLE 11. The state guarantees freedom of religions and confessions and their equality before the law. Religious organizations are separated from the state and may not interfere with affairs of state or perform functions of state. The state system of education is separated from religious organizations and is of a secular nature.
Everybody has the right to independently determine his attitude to religion, singly or jointly with others profess any religion or none, express and diffuse beliefs related to one’s attitude to religion, and participate in the exercise of religious cults, rites and rituals.
ARTICLE 12. Turkmenistan has its Armed Forces in order to protect its state sovereignty and security.
ARTICLE 13. Turkmenistan has its Armed Forces to protect its state sovereignty and security.
ARTICLE 14. Turkmen is the state language of Turkmenistan. All citizens are guaranteed the right to use their native tongue.
ARTICLE 15. The symbols of Turkmenistan as a sovereign state are its State Flag, Symbol and Anthem.
The flag, symbol and anthem are established and protected by the law.
Article 16. Turkmenistan is divided into administrative-territorial units: velayats, cities equivalent to velayats, etraps, cities equivalent to etraps, cities in etraps, settlements, gengeshliks. The territory of one or several villages constitutes a gengeshlik.
Article 17. The capital of Turkmenistan is the city of Ashgabat.
SECTION II.
BASIC RIGHTS, FREEDOMS AND DUTIES OF HUMAN BEING AND CITIZEN
ARTICLE 18. Human rights are inviolable and inalienable.
Nobody may deprive a person of any rights or freedoms, or limit him in his rights other than in conformity with the Constitution and other laws.
The human rights and freedoms enumerated in the Constitution and other laws may not be used to deny or downgrade other rights and freedoms.
ARTICLE 19. Turkmenistan guarantees the equality of citizen’s rights and freedoms of a man and citizen, and the equality of a man and citizens before the law regardless of their nationality, race, sex, origin, proprietary or official status, residence, language, attitude to religion, political beliefs or party affiliation or the lack of affiliation with any party.
ARTICLE 20. Men and women in Turkmenistan have equal civil rights. Violation of equality on account of sex entails accountability according to the law.
ARTICLE 21. The exercise of rights and freedoms must not be injurious to the rights and freedoms of other persons, safety or public order, or damage national security.
ARTICLE 22. Any person in Turkmenistan has the right to life and freedom of life. No person may be deprived of his right to life. The right of every person to a free life is protected by the state based on the law.
Capital punishment in Turkmenistan is abolished.
ARTICLE 23. A citizen may not be limited in his rights or deprived of his vested rights, convicted or punished other than in strict conformity with the law.
Nobody may be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or be subjected without his consent to medical (medicinal or specialist) or other experiments. A citizen may be arrested only for reasons clearly set out in the law and by a court decision or prosecutor’s sanction. In urgent cases that are clearly stipulated in the law, authorized bodies of state may detain citizens for some time.
ARTICLE 24. Every citizen has the right to state support to receive or purchase comfortable housing or an individual home-building. A home is inviolable. Nobody has the right to enter a home or otherwise violate the inviolability of a home against the wish of its occupants or without legal cause. A man and citizen has the right to protect his home against unlawful infringement.
Nobody may be deprived of a home other than on the grounds established by the law.
ARTICLE 25. Every man has the right to protection against arbitrary interference in his private life, and against attempts on the secrecy of his correspondence, telephone or other communications, and on his honor and reputation.
ARTICLE 26. Every citizen has the right to free movement and free choice of a residence within Turkmenistan.
Restricted access to, and movement in, some territories may be imposed only on the basis of the law.
ARTICLE 27. Upon reaching marriageable age, a man and a woman may enter into wedlock and create a family, subject to mutual consent. Consorts enjoy equal rights in family affairs.
Parents or persons substituting for them are entitled and obliged to educate their children, care for their good health, development and education, prepare them for work, and inculcate cultural values and respect for the law and ethnic traditions. Children of age must care for their parents and assist them.
ARTICLE 28. Citizens of Turkmenistan have the right to freedom of beliefs and their free expression, and the right to information provided it is not a state, official or commercial secret.
ARTICLE 29. Freedom of assembly, demonstration and rally is guaranteed to citizens as envisaged by the law.
ARTICLE 30. Citizens have the right to set up political parties and other public associations to conduct their activities within the framework of the Constitution and other laws.
Political parties and other public organizations may not be created or allowed to operate if they aim to forcibly change the constitutional system, admit of violence in their activities, or campaign against the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens, engage in propaganda of war or racial, ethnic, social and religious enmity, or infringe on people’s health and morality; it is likewise forbidden to create paramilitary organizations and political parties based on ethnic or religious criteria.
ARTICLE 31. Every citizen has the right to participate in managing the affairs of society and state both directly and through their freely elected representatives.
ARTICLE 32. Citizens have the right to elect and stand for election to bodies of state authority.
Citizens of Turkmenistan have equal rights of access to the civil service in accordance with their abilities and professional training.
ARTICLE 33. Citizens have the right to work, to discretionary choice of a profession, occupation and place of work, and to healthy and safe working conditions.
Hired employees are entitled to remuneration that corresponds to the amount and quality of their work. This remuneration may not be less than the level of subsistence fixed by the state.
ARTICLE 34. Citizens have the right to recreation, which is expressed in the form of a working week of a limited duration, annual paid leave, and weekly days-off.
The state creates conditions conducive to recreation at the place of residence and to rational use of free time.
ARTICLE 35. Citizens have the right to health protection, including free use of the network of public health institutions. Charged medical and non-traditional medical services are allowed on the basis and under the procedure established by the law.
ARTICLE 36 Each man has the right for healthy environment. The State takes control of rational use of natural resources with the aim to improve living conditions and to protect and rehabilitate the environment
Article 37. Citizens have the right to social security in old age, sickness, handicap, disability, bereavement and unemployment.
Families with many children, orphaned children, war veterans and other persons with health impairment resulting from their part in protecting the interests of state or society receive additional support and benefits from the public funds.
ARTICLE 38. Every citizen has the right to education. General secondary schooling is compulsory, and everyone has the right to receive such education at public schools free of charge.
The state provides access to vocational education for all in keeping with their abilities.
Government and non-government organizations and citizens have the right to carry out paid educational activities on the basis of, and under the procedure established by, the law.
The State shall establish educational standards for all educational institutions
ARTICLE 39. Citizens of Turkmenistan have the right to free pursuit of the arts, science and technology. Authors’ rights and citizens’ interests in the exercise of science and technology and in artistic, literary and cultural activities are protected by the law.
The state promotes the development of science, culture, art, folk art, sport, and tourism.
ARTICLE 40. The exercise of rights and liberties is inseparable from the fulfillment by a citizen and a human being of his duties to society and state.
Everyone who resides or temporarily stays in Turkmenistan must comply with the requirements of the Constitution of Turkmenistan and its laws, and respect its national traditions.
ARTICLE 41. Everybody has the sacred duty of helping to defend Turkmenistan. Universal military duty is established for men, citizens of Turkmenistan.
ARTICLE 42. Every person must pay public taxes and other charges under the procedure and in the amounts established by the law.
ARTICLE 43. Citizens are guaranteed legal protection of their honor and dignity, and of their personal and political rights and freedoms as human beings and citizens as envisaged in the Constitution and other laws.
Citizens have the right to appeal to the court against the actions of state bodies and public organizations, and of officials.
ARTICLE 44. Citizens have the right to demand settlement through a court of law for material and moral damage caused to them by unlawful actions of state bodies and other organizations or their employees, and private individuals.
ARTICLE 45. Nobody may be made to give evidence or explanations against himself or next of kin.
Evidence obtained through psychological impact or violence and by other unlawful methods is recognized as legally invalid.
ARTICLE 46. A law that exacerbates a citizen’s position does not have retroactive force. Nobody may be held accountable for actions that were not qualified as a legal offence at the time when such actions were committed.
ARTICLE 47. The exercise of the civil rights and freedoms envisaged in this Constitution may be suspended only in the conditions of an emergency or martial law under the procedure and within the limits established by the Constitution and other laws.
SECTION III. SYSTEM OF BODIES OF AUTHORITY AND GOVERNMENT IN TURKMENISTAN
CHAPTER 1. General Provisions
ARTICLE 48. Supreme state power and administration in Turkmenistan are vested in the President of Turkmenistan, the Mejlis, the Cabinet of Ministers, and the Supreme Court.
Article 49. Local power in velayats, cities equivalent to velayats, etraps and cities equivalent to etraps is vested in local representative and executive bodies; in cities in etraps, settlements and gengeshliks with bodies of local self-governance.
CHAPTER 2. PRESIDENT OF TURKMENISTAN
Article 50. The President of Turkmenistan is the head of state and executive government, the supreme official of Turkmenistan who acts as the guarantor of Turkmenistan’s state independence, neutrality status and territorial integrity, and of observance of the Constitution and international obligations.
ARTICLE 51. A citizen of Turkmenistan born in Turkmenistan, no younger than 40 years and no older than 70, who speaks the state language, has been permanently residing in the territory of Turkmenistan for the last 15 years, is serving in state bodies, public associations, enterprises, agencies and organizations can be elected as the President of Turkmenistan.
ARTICLE 52. The President of Turkmenistan is elected directly by the people of Turkmenistan for a term of five years and takes office right after he is sworn in.
The law establishes the procedure of electing the President of Turkmenistan and of his taking office.
ARTICLE 53. The President of Turkmenistan:
1) enforces the Constitution and other laws;
2) guides external policy, represents Turkmenistan in relations with other states, appoints and recalls ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives of Turkmenistan in foreign states and at inter-state and international organizations, receives instruments of verification and instruments of recall from diplomatic representatives of foreign states;
3) is Supreme Commander of Turkmenistan’s Armed Forces, orders wholesale or partial mobilization, the use of the Armed Forces, and putting them on combat alert, appoints senior commanders of the Armed Forces;
4) forms and heads the State Security Council of Turkmenistan which status is defined in the law; (5) approves programs and major guidelines for the country’s political, economic and social development;
5) approves programmes and policies on political, economic and social development of the country;
6) submits a state budget and a budget implementation report to the Mejlis for review and approval;
7) signs laws, has the right of delaying veto to return a law with his objections within two weeks to the Mejlis for a re-examination and re-voting.
If a two-thirds majority of the Mejlis reaffirms its earlier decision, the President of Turkmenistan signs the law.
The President of Turkmenistan does not have the right of delaying veto regarding laws that propose amendments and supplements to the Constitution;
8) establishes the Central Election and Referendum Commission in Turkmenistan, and changes its composition;
9) appoints a referendum date and has the right to convene an early session of the Mejlis;
10) decides to grant and withdraw Turkmenistan citizenship, and confer asylum;
11) presents orders and other awards of Turkmenistan, awards honorary, military and other special titles and distinctions of the state;
12) appoints and dismisses the Chairperson of the Supreme Court, the General Prosecutor, the Minister of Internal Affairs, and the Minister of Justice, subject to the Mejlis consent;
13) grants pardons and amnesties;
14) imposes a state of emergency throughout or in parts of Turkmenistan in the interests of ensuring the safety of citizens. The emergency regime is regulated by the appropriate law of Turkmenistan;
15) deals with other issues that are placed within his competence by the Constitution and the laws.
ARTICLE 54. The President of Turkmenistan issues decrees, ordinances and orders, which are binding throughout Turkmenistan.
ARTICLE 55. The President of Turkmenistan may not be a deputy of the Mejlis.
ARTICLE 56. The President of Turkmenistan enjoys the right of inviolability. His honor and dignity are protected by the law.
The President of Turkmenistan and his family are provided for, served and protected at the public expense.
ARTICLE 57. The President of Turkmenistan may be relieved of office ahead of time if he is unable to fulfill his duties owing to ill health. The Mejlis decides to relieve the President of office ahead of time based on the findings of an independent medical commission it creates, but such decision is to be approved by at least two-thirds of the established number of the Mejlis vote.
A decision relating to lack of confidence in the President of Turkmenistan is approved by at least three-fourths of the votes of the established number of deputies of the Mejlis. The issue of dismissal of the President of Turkmenistan is put for national referendum.
ARTICLE 58. The President may not transfer his authority to other bodies or officials, except for the powers envisaged in Article 53 (2) and (13) which may be passed to the Chairperson of the Mejlis.
If for whatever reason the President is unable to exercise his duties, one of deputies Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers is appointed as an Acting President by a decision of the State Security Council for the period up to the election of a new President. In this case, the Presidential election must be held within 60 days from the day of the transfer of the President’s powers to the Acting President of Turkmenistan.
he Acting President of Turkmenistan may not run for the office of the President
CHAPTER 3. MEJLIS OF TURKMENISTAN
ARTICLE 59. The Mejlis (Parliament) is the highest representative body vested with legislative power
ARTICLE 60. The Mejlis consists of 125 deputies who are elected by area constituencies with approximately the same number of voters for a term of five years.
ARTICLE 61 The Mejlis may be dissolved ahead of time:
1) by a referendum decision;
2) by a Mejlis decision adopted by a majority of at least two-thirds of the deputies (self-dissolution);
3) by the President of Turkmenistan if the Mejlis fails to appoint its management within six months
ARTICLE 62. The Mejlis independently establishes the correctness of the deputies’ powers, elects the Chairperson of the Mejlis and his Deputy from among the deputies, and sets up committees and commissions. The deputies of the Mejlis of previous convocation preserve their powers up to the opening of the first session of the Mejlis of new convocation.
ARTICLE 63. The Mejlis
1) adopts laws, amends, supplements, interprets and control execution of the Constitution of Turkmenistan and laws
2) reviews the issue of whether to approve the Cabinet of Ministers' program of action;
3) reviews the issues of whether to approve the State Budget of Turkmenistan and the Budget implementation report;
4) programs and major guidelines for the country’s political, economic and social development;
5) decides on whether to conduct national referenda;
6) calls for elections of the President of Turkmenistan, the deputies of the Mejlis, members of velayat, etrap, city representative bodies and the Gengeshes;
7) reviews proposals from the President of Turkmenistan to appoint and dismiss the Chairman of the Supreme Court, the General Prosecutor, the Minister of Internal Affairs, and the Minister of Justice;
8) establishes state awards and present state awards to the President of Turkmenistan and confers on him honorary titles, military ranks and distinctions;
9) determines the constitutionality of normative legal acts approved by bodies of state authority and government;
10) ratifies and denounces international treaties;
11) decides on changing the State Border of Turkmenistan and administrative and territorial division of Turkmenistan;
12) reviews peace and security issues;
13) deal with other issues placed within the Mejlis authority by the Constitution and the laws.”
ARTICLE 64. The Mejlis may transfer the right of law-making on certain issues to the President of Turkmenistan and must subsequently review such laws in order to approve them.
The Mejlis may not transfer its law-making rights relating to:
1) amendment of the Constitution;
2) criminal and administrative legislation;
3) judicial proceedings
ARTICLE 65. The right to propose legislation is vested in the President of Turkmenistan, the Mejlis' deputies, the Cabinet of Ministers, and the Supreme Court.
ARTICLE 66. The Mejlis' deputies have the right to submit information requests and address oral and written questions to the Cabinet of Minister, ministers, and heads of other bodies of the state.
Article 67. The State guarantees to and provides each deputy with conditions for carrying out his duties in an unhindered and effective manner, protects his rights and freedoms, life, honour, dignity and personal immunity.
ARTICLE 68. A deputy may be deprived of his powers as a deputy solely by the Mejlis. Such decision is taken by a majority of at least two-thirds of the votes of the Mejlis' deputies.
A deputy may not be subject to criminal proceedings, arrested or otherwise deprived of his freedom without the consent of the Mejlis.
ARTICLE 69. A deputy may not simultaneously serve as a member of the Cabinet of Ministers, the hyakim, an archyn or judge, or a prosecutor.
ARTICLE 70. The Chairman of the Mejlis is elected by a secrete vote. He reports to the Mejlis and may be dismissed by a decision of the Mejlis adopted by at least two-thirds of the votes of its deputies.
The Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis is elected by an open vote and at the Chairman’s request performs some of his functions, substitutes for the Chairman in his absence or inability to exercise his authority.
ARTICLE 71. The law establishes the procedure for the activities of the Mejlis, its committees, commissions and deputies, and their functions and powers.
CHAPTER 4. CABINET OF MINISTERS OF TURKMENISTAN
ARTICLE 72. The Cabinet of Ministers is an executive and managerial body. The Cabinet of Ministers is headed by the President of Turkmenistan.
ARTICLE 73. The Cabinet of Ministers includes Deputy Chairmen of the Cabinet of Ministers and ministers. The President of Turkmenistan may appoint other officials who are the heads of central executive bodies of government to the Cabinet of Ministers.
The Cabinet of Ministers is formed by the President within one month after taking office and is dissolved before a newly elected President takes office.
ARTICLE 74. Cabinet of Ministers meetings are chaired by the President or at his request by one of the Deputy Chairmen of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The Cabinet of Ministers, within its competence, adopts decisions and issues ordinances, which are binding.
ARTICLE 75. The Cabinet of Ministers:
1) organizes the enforcement of the laws of Turkmenistan, the acts of the President of Turkmenistan and the Mejlis;
2) implements measures to secure and protect citizens’ rights and freedoms, and to safeguard property and public order, and national security;
3) develops proposals on key areas of internal and external policies of the state, Mejlis for review;
4) ensures state management of economic and social development, organizes management of state enterprises, organizations and institutions, and secures rational use and protection of natural resources;
5) takes measures to strengthen the monetary and credit system;
6) forms committees, head offices and other agencies under the Cabinet of Ministers, if necessary;
7) implements external economic activities and ensures the development of cultural ties with foreign states;
8) manages the activities of government institutions, state enterprises and organizations, and may repeal the decisions of ministers and other agencies and local executive bodies;
9) performs other duties that are placed within its competence by the Constitution, laws and other regulations.
ARTICLE 76. The law defines the authority of the Cabinet of Ministers, its operating procedure and its relationships with other state bodies.
CHAPTER 5. LOCAL EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT
ARTICLE 77. Local power is vested in representative and executive bodies which shall function within the scope of their competencies.
Article 78. Halk maslahatys (representative bodies) are created in velayat, in velayat, city equivalent to velayat, etrap and city equivalent to etrap. Their members are elected by citizens from respective administrative-territorial units for the term of four years in accordance with procedure established by the law.
Article 79. Within the scope of their competencies halk maslahatys participate in deciding on the issues of economic, social and cultural development of respective territories. The law defines functions and powers of halk maslahatys and their members, their operating procedure and relationships with other bodies of state authority and government.
Article 80. Executive power is locally exercised in velayats by the hyakims of velayats, in cities by the hyakims of cities, in etraps by the hyakims of etraps.
Article 81. Hyakims are local representatives of the President of Turkmenistan, who are appointed and relieved from office by the President of Turkmenistan and are accountable to him.
ARTICLE 82. The hyakims guide the local bodies of government, ensure enforcement of the Constitution and other laws of Turkmenistan, and the legal acts of the President of Turkmenistan and the Cabinet of Ministers and the resolutions of the Mejlis. Within their powers, the hyakims issue decisions that are binding in their jurisdictions.
ARTICLE 83. The law defines the amount of functions and powers vested in the hyakims, and the procedure of their activities and relationships with other bodies of authority and government.
SECTION IV.
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
ARTICLE 84. The system of local self-government is formed by the gengeshes and bodies of territorial public self-government.
The gengeshes are representative bodies of people's government in a city within an etrap, settlement or gengeshlik. Members of a gengesh are directly elected by citizens for a term of three years.
Article 85. The gengesh are independent in doing their activities. Their relations with bodies of authority and government are formed in accordance with the legislation of Turkmenistan.
ARTICLE 86. The gengeshes are competent to:
1) define key areas of the economic, social and cultural development of their territories;
2) approve local budgets and budget implementation reports;
3) impose local charges and determine collection procedures;
4) define measures to rationally use natural resources and protect the natural environment;
5) deal with other issues placed within the competence of the gengeshes by the law.
Within their competences, the gengeshes take decisions that are binding in their jurisdictions.
ARTICLE 87. A gengesh elects an archyn from among its members who manages the work of the gengesh and is accountable to it. Archyns ensure the enforcement decisions of the gengesh and acts of bodies of authority and government and decide on other issues of local significance.
ARTICLE 88. The law defines the operating procedures of the local halk maslahatys, gengeshes and other bodies of public self-government.
SECTION V.
ELECTORAL SYSTEM, REFERENDUM
ARTICLE 89. Elections of the President of Turkmenistan, deputies of the Mejlis and members of halk maslahatys and gengeshes are universal and equal. Citizens of Turkmenistan who have reached the age of 18 years have the right to vote, and each voter has one vote.
Citizens who are recognized by court as incapable, and persons who are in prison serving their sentences do not participate in elections. Any direct or indirect limitation of the citizens’ right to vote is inadmissible in other cases and punishable by law.
ARTICLE 90. A citizen of Turkmenistan who has reached the age of 25 years by the day of the election, and who in the past ten years has permanently resided in Turkmenistan may be elected a member of the Mejlis. The laws of Turkmenistan define the requirements applied to candidates to the deputies of the Mejlis, members of local maslahatys and gengeshes.
ARTICLE 91. Elections are direct and elected persons are directly elected by the citizens.
ARTICLE 92. Voting at elections is secret and no control of the voting during elections is permitted.
ARTICLE 93. Political parties and public associations and groups of citizens have the right to nominate candidates in conformity with the legislation of Turkmenistan.
ARTICLE 94. National and local referendums may be organized to address the most important issues of state and public life.
Decisions made by a referendum may be repealed or changed only by referendum.
ARTICLE 95. TheMejlis has the right to call a national referendum at the proposal of at least two thirds of its deputies or at the proposal of at least 250 thousand citizens who have the right to vote.
ARTICLE 96. A gengesh has the right to call a local referendum on its own initiative or at the proposal of at least one-quarter of the voters who live in its jurisdiction.
ARTICLE 97. Referendums are conducted by way of a universal, equal and direct vote by secret ballot.
Citizens of Turkmenistan who have the right to vote participate in referendums.
ARTICLE 98. The law defines the procedure of organizing elections and national and local referendums. No elections or referendums are organized during a state of emergency.
SECTION VI.
JUDICIARY
ARTICLE 99. Judicial authority in Turkmenistan is vested solely with the courts.
The judiciary is designed to protect citizens’ rights and freedoms and the law-protected interests of state and society.
ARTICLE 100. Judicial authority is exercised by the Supreme Court of Turkmenistan and other courts as provided in the law.
No extraordinary courts or other entities with the authority of a court are allowed.
ARTICLE 101. The judges are independent, bound only by the law and guided by internal conviction. Intervention in the work of any judge by anybody is inadmissible and entails responsibility under the law. The inviolability of the judge is guaranteed by the law.
ARTICLE 102. Judges of all courts are appointed by the President. The law defines the procedure of appointing and dismissing judges, as well as the term of their service. A judge may be dismissed from office prior to expiration of his term only based on criteria stipulated in the law.
ARTICLE 103. A judge may not hold any other paid job, except for teaching, art and science.
ARTICLE 104. Cases are examined in courts collectively, and in instances envisaged by the law, singly by the judge.
ARTICLE 105. All courts examine cases openly. A case hearing in closed sitting is admitted only in instances envisaged by the law and with the observance of all rules governing legal proceedings.
ARTICLE 106. Legal proceedings are conducted in the state language. Persons involved in a case who do not speak the language in which the legal proceedings are conducted have the right to study the case and participate in court proceedings with the help of an interpreter, and also the right to address the court in their native languages.
ARTICLE 107. Justice is administered on the basis of competition and equality of the parties.
The parties have the right to appeal against decisions, sentences and other rulings of all courts of Turkmenistan.
ARTICLE 108. The right to qualified legal support is recognized in any stage of the legal proceedings.
Legal support to citizens and organizations is provided by lawyers and other persons and organizations.
ARTICLE 109. The laws define the competence and the formation and operation procedures of the courts.
SECTION VII.
PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE
ARTICLE 110. The General Prosecutor of Turkmenistan and the prosecutors under his control are responsible for supervising accurate and uniform observance in Turkmenistan of the laws of Turkmenistan and the legal acts of the President of Turkmenistan and the Cabinet of Ministers and resolutions of the Mejlis.
A prosecutor participates in the examination of cases in courts on the basis of, and according to the procedure established by, the law.
ARTICLE 111. The Prosecutor’s Office supervises the legality of inquiry and investigation procedures relating to criminal cases.
ARTICLE 112. The General Prosecutor of Turkmenistan heads the unified and centralized system of prosecutor’s offices. The law defines procedure of appointment and dismissal and tenure terms of prosecutors.
ARTICLE 113. In exercising their authority, the General Prosecutor and the prosecutors under his control are guided by the law alone.
ARTICLE 114. The scope of competence, manner of creation and activity of prosecutor’s offices is defined in the law.
SECTION VIII.
FINAL PROVISIONS
ARTICLE 115. Laws and other legal acts of state bodies and officials are published on the basis of, and in conformity with, the Constitution.
In the event of divergences between provisions contained in the Constitution and other laws, the provisions of the Constitution prevail.
ARTICLE 116. No changes may be made to the provisions of the Constitution of Turkmenistan about the polity in the form of a presidential republic.
ARTICLE 117. A law on amending the Constitution is deemed as approved if it receives at least two-thirds of the votes of the Mejlis deputies, or more than a half of citizens of Turkmenistan who have voted for it in a national referendum.
President of Turkmenistan
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov
Ashgabat
26 September 2008