Turkmenistan Launches Police Raids Against Women Wearing Fake Nails

Police in Turkmenistan’s capital city, Ashgabat, have allegedly raided public spaces and business offices in recent days to enforce a new unofficial ban on women wearing false eyelashes or nails, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported Wednesday citing unnamed sources.

“In unprecedented raids in public places and offices, police have rounded up women wearing false eyelashes and/or nails and taken them to police stations, multiple eyewitnesses in the capital, Ashgabat, and other Turkmen cities tell RFE/RL,” the U.S. government-funded broadcaster reported May 4.

An Ashgabat resident told RFE/RL anonymously that women stopped by police for wearing fake nails or eyelashes in recent days “were told to remove their beauty accessories and pay a fine of about $140.”

Turkmenistan’s government has not issued an official edict banning the cosmetic enhancements in question. RFE/RL described the new beauty crackdown by Turkmen police as “being [unofficially] enforced by local authorities and law-enforcement agencies across the country.”

Unnamed office workers in Turkmenistan alleged to RFE/RL on Wednesday that “officials and company managers have held special gatherings to discuss the new rules on women’s clothes, beauty routines, and appearances, but declined to explain the reason or present a copy of the document ordering the ban.”

Turkmenistan’s federal government has previously introduced “similar restrictions” on artificial beauty enhancements, RFE/RL stated in its May 4 report, while acknowledging the prior bans were “never strictly enforced.”

Turkmenistan’s population of 6.03 million is 93.3 percent Muslim, according to the country’s latest available census data from 2011. The majority of Turkmenistan Muslims follow the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam.

“Islam among the Turkmens has a notable tradition of being tempered and infused with folk practices and traditions. The government promotes secularism and keeps tight control over senior Muslim clergy in the country, and more fundamentalist interpretations of Islam are suppressed,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

The Turkmen government unofficially enforces a dress code that encourages women to wear traditional Central Asian apparel, according to RFE/RL. The broadcaster on May 4 noted the following of Turkmenistan’s sartorial guideline:

Authorities in the Muslim-majority country have always encouraged women to wear traditional clothes, shunning both Western-style outfits and the Islamic hijab.

A traditional outfit consists of an ankle-length, long-sleeved, embroidered dress, often made from a colorful fabric. Traditional headwear for girls is a colorful embroidered hat, while women often wear a kerchief tied behind their heads.

Traditional clothing serves as a women’s uniform in the workplace, at official meetings, and at public events.

Turkmenistan is bordered by Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and Iran.