President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov signed a law that from September 1, 2018 prohibits polygamy. The text of the corresponding amendment to the Family Code was published in the newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan. In the text of the law published on June 19, the state press reported on the introduction of changes and additions to the Family Code of Turkmenistan, according to the amendments to article 7 of the code "polygamy is not allowed in Turkmenistan", "under polygamy means cohabitation with two or more women at the same time with joint management of the common economy ".

The ban comes into force on September 1, 2018, Radio Azaltyk notes..

In the family code of Turkmenistan adopted in 2012, the ban on a second marriage was originally prescribed, now the term "polygamy".

The Criminal Code of Turkmenistan also provided for punishment for bigamy in the form of correctional labor for up to two years or a major fine.

Despite this, according to local observers, polygamy is quite common in the country.

As local observers note, in Turkmenistan polygamy began to spread in the second half of the 1990s.

According to Amanmurad Bugayev, a columnist from Ashgabat, this happened against the backdrop of economic problems and extreme poverty faced by the overwhelming majority of the population, as well as the emergence of a stratum of wealthy people. In these conditions polygamy became a status phenomenon and the number of wives emphasized the welfare of the spouse, among whom there were many officials.

"Often, when an official was fired on TV, they openly talked about how many wives he had," said Bugayev.

Turkmenistan is a secular state, but most of the population professes Islam, which allows for up to four wives.

But, according to the columnist Amanmurad Bugaev, Islam was used mainly in the issue of polygamy in Turkmenistan as an instrument for the legalization of several marriages. Since often such a marriage was made according to Islamic traditions and was not officially registered, which subsequently led to lawlessness and legislative insecurity of wives and children.

In the past, the country's leadership voiced the possibility of legalizing polygamy.

In 1993, the first president of Turkmenistan, Saparmyrat Niyazov, after gaining independence from the USSR, proposed the possibility of legalizing polygamy, which was historically traditional for Turkmens, and with the aim of preventing moral decay in society.

"In 1993, President Saparmyrat Niyazov proposed a law protecting the family dignity.

According to which a man was allowed to have legally up to four wives. A special commission was set up. But the presidential proposal then provoked a protest of the Turkmen intelligentsia, "notes writer Amanmurad Bugayev. According to him, today in Turkmen society the topic of polygamy is discussed less, but this phenomenon is widespread.

As The New Arab states, if former President Saparmyrat Niyazov had fulfilled his proposal, Turkmenistan could become the first former Soviet country to legitimize polygamy.