citizenship in accordance with that country’s citizenship laws. Georgian-born Azeris continue to face strict naturalization restrictions. Some of these migrants were residing in Azerbaijan at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union and thus cannot meet residency requirements for Georgian citizenship (Tabachnik 2019, 10). Many such individuals also migrate frequently between Georgia and Azerbaijan, further complicating their access to Georgian citizenship. Ethnic Azerbaijanis from Georgia thus are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness if they have not acquired Azerbaijani or Georgia nationality (Tabachnik 2019). Ethnic Armenians from Azerbaijan and Georgia and ethnic Azerbaijanis from Georgia are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. Meskhetian Turks The Meskhetian Turks are a Turkish-speaking minority from what is now the Republic of Georgia. In 1944, the Soviet Army deported them from Georgia to Uzbekistan. Following ethnic persecution in Uzbekistan’s Ferghana Valley in 1989, many were forcibly relocated to regions across Russia (Helton 1996; Cobb 2013). After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Meskhetian Turks were routinely denied citizenship in the region of Krasnodar Kray, Russia, and faced severe obstacles to naturalization in Georgia, where they were required to adopt Georgian surnames in order to gain legal residence (Pentikainen and Trier 2004, 17). Most had left Uzbekistan before its independence and are ineligible for Uzbek citizenship (DOS 1994, 11). Some came to the United States as refugees. Meskhetian Turks born in Georgia, Uzbekistan, or the Krasnodar Kray region of Russia are thus potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. Russia and Central Asia Citizens of the former Soviet Union residing in Russia in 1992 were considered by law to be Russian citizens (UNHCR 2015c, 22). Furthermore, in 1993, the government permitted all former Soviet citizens who arrived in Russia after February 6, 1992 to acquire Russian citizenship, provided they registered by December 2000. In 2002 and 2003, the government enacted a series of measures granting former Soviet citizens residing in Russia a “simplified” path to citizenship, waiving documentation requirements that had barred some from registering prior to 2000 (ibid., 22-25). The Russian Federation enacted additional policies in 2012 and 2018, which further “simplified” naturalization procedures (ibid., 25; Russian Federation Office of the President 2018). As a result, the number of stateless individuals in Russia has declined significantly over time. An estimated 75,680 remained under the UNHCR’s statelessness mandate as of 2018, but this figure includes members of ethnic minority groups such as Roma and Meskhetian Turks (UNHCR 2019b, 67). Statelessness is also widespread in successor Central Asian republics, including Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. According to the UNHCR, in 2018 about 4,700 persons under the UNHCR’s statelessness mandate resided in Turkmenistan, 4,600 resided in Tajikistan, and almost 80,000 resided in Uzbekistan (ibid., 68). Many in these countries became stateless due to post-Soviet demarcation of territories, or because they were labor migrants living in a Soviet republic other than where they were registered (Farquharson 2011). Some individuals from former Soviet countries that left after the Soviet Union’s collapse are thus potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. 17