Romi koji žive u središnjoj Aziji uglavnom žive u Uzbekistanu i Tadžikistanu, ali Romi žive i u Turkmenistanu. Približan broj Roma u Turkmenistanu nije poznat. Romi u Središnjoj Aziji poznati su kao; Luli, Djuchi, Mazang i Agacha. Ime se mijenja ovisno o tome u kojoj zemlji žive u Središnjoj Aziji, Luli i Djuchi se odnose na istu skupinu ljudi, a Mazang Romi nalaze se u cijeloj Središnjoj Aziji. Romi Agacha uglavnom su naseljeni u regiji Namangan (Uzbekistan) i u gradu Bazar Kurgan u regiji Jalal-Abad u Kirgistanu.

Romi su bili lišeni većine prava u Središnjoj Aziji. Oni nisu bili zemljoposjednici i zbog toga su se morali seliti. Međutim, Romi su imali privremene logore u blizini velikih gradova ili ruralnih područja, tako da su oni samo djelomično bili nomadi. Romi u Turkmenistanu većinom su islamske vjeroispovijesti, i njeguju tu tradiciju. Oni pokapaju svoje mrtve, poste, mole se i prakticiraju obrezivanje. Za razliku od Roma u Europi i Turskoj, samo mali broj Roma u Turkmenistanu bavi se izradom ručnih radova. Neki muškarci izrađuju nakit ili rade kao kovači, a žene izrađuju mreže za lice koje prodaju muslimankama.

Romi u Turkmenistanu i u Središnjoj Aziji žive u šatorima ili u svojim naseljima. Ovi šatori imaju različite nazive ovisno o regijama i godišnjem dobu, ali opći naziv je chadir. Chadiri imaju jednostavne, nekompliciran dizajn. U ljeti koriste chadir za stvaranje sjene i spavanje. U zimi je chadir malo kompleksniji, ima izolaciju i otvor za vatru, jastuke i deke. Ti dijelovi se u ljeti ostavljaju kad putuju. Neki Romi tijekom zime žive u gospodarskim zgradama, a vlasniku farme zauzvrat daju gnojivo koje imaju od svoje stoke. Romi u Središnjoj Aziji i Turkmenistanu žive u malim grupama ili obiteljski, a ne u velikim romskim naseljima. Tradicionalna romska odjeća nije drugačija od tradicionalne odjeće u Turkmenistanu.

Luli su jedan od etničkih ogranaka Roma u Turkmenistanu. Kazahstan, Tadžikistan, Uzbekistan, Kirgistan i, u rijetkim prilikama, Rusija i Afganistan također su dom Lula. Jezik kojim govore Luli je etnolekt tadžičkog. Oni su sunitski muslimani. U Turkmenistan su došli uglavnom iz Tadžikistana. Luli se sele u Turkmenistan zbog zaposlenja, jer je tamo prosječna plaća veća. Obično je plaća u Turkmenistanu nedovoljna za pokrivanje troškova hrane. Unatoč tome, većina Lulija nažalost u Turkmenistan ulazi ilegalno. Policija zbog toga provodi racije i protjeruje Lule iz Turkmenistana. Prosjačenje na ulicama i proricanje sudbine primarni su izvor prihoda žena i djece.

Još jedan ogranak Roma koji je došao u Turkmenistan iz Tadžikistana su Dzugi. Misle da dijele mnogo sličnosti s Lulima. Džugi zarađuju prosjačenjem na ulici. Svakog jutra kompletno naselje dolazi na središnje ulice gradova da prosi na ulicama. Imaju čak i parabolu o prosjačenju: dok je Bog dijelio stvari ljudima, propustio je Dzuge, a njihova dobra je dao drugim ljudima. Oni sada prosjačenjem vraćaju svoje stvari. Muškarci često skupljaju i prodaju staro željezo. Dzugi su rasprostranjeniji na području Tadžikistana.

 

Romi se u Turkmenistanu ne priznaju kao posebna manjina, tako da je teško uopće pratiti koliko Roma tamo živi i koliko različitih grupa. Zbog niske razine obrazovanja i lošeg ekonomskog statusa u Turkmenistanu, Romi su uglavnom siromašni, i gotovo da nemaju pristup zdravstvu. Nadamo se da će Romi u središnjoj Aziji biti priznati i da ćemo moći više naučiti o romskoj povijesti u Turkmenistanu.

 

 

 

Majority of Roma living in Central Asia is mostly located in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, but, Roma is present in Turkmenistan as well. The approximate number of Roma in Turkmenistan is unknown. Roma in Central Asia is known as; Luli, Djuchi, Mazang, and Agacha. The name changes according to which country they live in Central Asia, Luli and Djuchi refers to the same group of people, and Mazang Roma can be found all throughout the Central Asia. Agacha Roma is mostly settled in Namangan Oblast, Uzbekistan and Bazar Kurgan Raion, Jalal-Abad Oblast and Kyrgyzstan.

Roma as an ethnographic group were deprived from most rights in Central Asia. They did not own land and as a result they were forced to be on the move. Though, Roma had semi-permanent encampments near big cities or rural areas, so, they were only partially nomadic. Roma in Turkmenistan are mostly Sunni Muslim, with Muslim traditions. They bury their dead’s, fast, pray and practice circumcision. As opposite of Roma in Europe and Turkey, only a handful of Roma in Turkmenistan practice handcrafts. There are some men that are jewellery makers or metalsmiths, and some women make face nets to sell to Muslim women.

Roma in Turkmenistan and Central Asia lives in tents in their settlements. These tents have different names according to the regions and the season, but the general name is chadir. These chadirs have uncomplicated, simple designs. In summer, they use the chadir for shade and sleeping. The winter chadir is slightly more complected, with isolation and opening for fire, pillows, and blankets. These parts are left behind in summer when they go on their travels in the settlements. Some Roma lives in farm outbuildings during winter, in exchange, they live manure as a fertilizer from their livestock for the owner of the farm. Roma Turkmenistan and Central Asia lives as small groups of families, not as big Roma settlements. Traditional Roma clothes are not different from the traditional clothing in Turkmenistan.

Luli is one of the ethnic branches of the Roma in Turkmenistan. Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and, on rare occasions, Russia and Afghanistan are also home to Luli people. The language spoken by the Luli is an ethnolect of Tajik. Luli's religion is Sunni Muslim. Luli arrived in Turkmenistan primarily from Tajikistan. Luli is moving to Turkmenistan for employment, as the average salary is higher there. Typically, the salary in Turkmenistan is insufficient to cover food costs. Nonetheless, most Luli unfortunately enters Turkmenistan illegally. The police are conducting raids and expelling Luli from Turkmenistan for this reason. Begging on the streets and telling fortunes are the primary source of income of Luli's women and children.

Another branch of the Roma that came to Turkmenistan from Tajikistan is the Dzugi. They think they share a lot of similarities with Luli. Dzugi earns his income by begging on the streets. Every morning, a complete settlement comes to the central streets of the cities to beg on the streets. They even have a parable about begging: while God was distributing things to people, he missed Dzugi and gave Dzugi’s goods to other people. Now Dzugi is returning their belongings via begging. Men frequently collect and sell scrap metal. Dzugi are more widespread in the Tajikistan area.

In countries where there is no access to public healthcare, bribery traditions etc things even worse for Roma. Roma in Central Asia are not being recognized as a separate nation, which makes it difficult to keep track of how many Roma are they, how many different groups there are in each country. Due to the low education levels and low social economic status in Turkmenistan, Roma is mostly highly uneducated and poor, with almost no access to healthcare. We are hoping Roma in Central Asia is recognized as a separate nation and we can learn more about Roma history in Turkmenistan.