Turkmenistan said Tuesday it was "concerned" after the Central Asian state, one of the most closed in the world, was targeted by US President Donald Trump's travel ban it called "incomprehensible".
The ban, which came into effect Monday, bars citizens from a dozen nations from entering the United States, reviving a divisive measure from his first term.
The foreign ministry of Turkmenistan said the "hasty step does not take into account the good results of bilateral Turkmen-US cooperation in a broad range of areas."
It called the measure "utterly incomprehensible" and expressed "concern".
Rights groups say Turkmenistan places tight limits on its citizens' foreign travel.
"Freedom of movement is restricted, with frequent reports of individuals being barred from travelling abroad," the Freedom House democracy-tracking NGO said.
It reported that citizens wanting to leave had to "undertake an interview and a psychological test and to sign a guarantee that they would return to the country."
Independent media and civil society are banned in the ex-Soviet country, which is tightly ruled over by father-and-son duo Gurbanguly and Serdar Berdymukhamedov.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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