FACTORES VARIABLES

Traditionally, women were treated as property and marriage was used as means of business, using women as collateral, security, bond, or pledge (Mustafa, 2014; Hassanpour, 2001). In the past, women in Kurdish society did not have land of their own so marriage was the only way for them to be supported and as such were completely dependent on marriage. A woman begets respect and is treated as an adult by the community after marriage and her social, economic and sexual potential transfers from her family to her husband’s family, a common practise in most Pakistani culture (Ali et al, 2011). Sex in the Kurdish traditional view is not allowed before marriage and a couple cannot live together before marriage. Furthermore, most marriages are pre-arranged mostly by the tribal head, even before the birth of the child, particularly among people living in rural areas (Begikhani et al., 2010). Individuals are also forbidden to marry non- Kurds or someone outside of their tribe (Saarinen, 2013). In some cases, marriage can be postponed for girls due to a shortage of labour in the family. Generally, Kurdish women marry at a young age (before the age of 20 years), based on a belief that they will become settled and the family honour protected. A 2011 survey, conducted by Al Alak et al. (2012) in the Kurdistan region, showed that around 10% of women between the age of 15-19 years are married, although, this percentile did not cover non-registered marriages, which occur frequently in this region. There are different types of marriages within Kurdish culture, the majority have arranged marriages. First of all, when women are kidnapped or unmarried girls taken by force (planned in advance between families), which is a common practise in this culture, the kidnapper will have to give his sister or

cousin to the kidnapped girl’s family in order to recover from social and economic damage which mostly has to do with the family honour. Secondly, marriage exchange is also a very common traditional practice among Kurds. For example, the head of a family gives his daughter to another family head. Another instance is the circle marriage, where family A give their daughters to family B and family B have to give their daughters to family C, and finally family C have to complete the circle to give their daughters to family A. Alternatively, sisters can be exchanged in the circle marriage. These forms of marriage have nothing to do with religion, but form part of the culture where women are use as unemotional objects of transaction. These forms of marriage can be seen among Australian Aborigines and American Subarctic peoples (Evans, 2015). Thirdly, a divorced or widowed woman does not have another option but to marry a married man as a second or third wife. In this case, the husbands are mostly wealthy men, as it is expensive to raise more than one family. In addition, men in this region are not allowed to raise someone else`s children, so most widows remain unmarried or marry the brother of their deceased husband as his first, second, third or fourth wife so as to take care of the children and property. As for a widowed man, he can marry his wife's younger sister in order to guarantee the wellbeing of children and ensure that the inheritance of land stay within the family. Lastly, infertile women usually face ridicule and in most cases are divorced or their husbands marry more wives, because large families are very important for Kurds. However, for infertile men, the women have to stay with him for their entire life. These events highlight certain aspects of Kurdish family traditions. Nowadays, the Kurdish people can choose their partner, but arranged marriage is still common practise in rural areas (Saarinen, 2013; Begikhani et al., 2010). All the above-mentioned forms of

marriage are also reported as common practise in most Islamic communities such as Pakistan and Arabic speaker’s communities (Mustafa, 2014).

Regarding marriage patterns, the groom has to pay an amount of money to the bride`s father. This system is called next in Kurdish, meaning “bride price”. The money is given to the bride`s family for jewellery, the wedding ceremony, a rifle, a revolver, household goods, electronic equipment, and hoofed animals. Sometimes, the bride`s family uses the bride price to get brides for their sons. In addition, the groom has to cover the expenditure of renovating the bride and groom living room/quarters or building a new home. The “bride price” varies according to the groom`s family socioeconomic status and who the groom is marrying. For example, the sum paid is larger if the groom is an old widower or the girl is a second or third wife.

A couple in love cannot marry each other unless their families agree. As a result, some girls, especially in urban areas, threaten their parents that they will elope with their lover. However, eloping and kidnapping may have far more serious consequences. It may result in inter-lineage and intertribal feuds, since it is believed that the woman's honour is stained; she is no longer considered a virgin, and cannot be returned to her family (Mustafa, 2014; Hardi, 2005).

In Kurd tradition, blood feuds are intertribal affairs. When a Kurd is murdered by someone from another tribe, not only does the lineage of the dead man, but the whole tribe comes together for an extra-juridical form of punishment, usually provoking countermeasures that lead to escalated tribal warfare. Settlement between the tribes can be a lengthy process and is pursued until an agreement is reached about the payment of

bezh, blood money, to the relatives of the victim. Blood feuds are more widespread in the Kurdistan region of Turkey than in other parts of Kurdistan, and such incidents decrease as the power of tribal leaders decline (Ahmetbeyzade, 2000).