Ala Kachuu (Kyrgyzstan)
| Ala kachuu 🇰🇬 | ||
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| Location: Kyrgyzstan | ||
| Definition: Lit. "take the girl and run", kidnapping a woman, with or without her consent, with the purpose to marry her. | ||
| Keywords: Kyrgyzstan – FSU – Central Asia – Gender – Women – Kinship – Family – Marriage – Abduction | ||
| Clusters: Control | ||
| Author: Alberica Camerani | ||
| Affiliation: PhD student, Dublin City University, Ireland | ||
By Alberica Camerani, Dublin City University, Ireland
| Ala kachuu is the act of abduction a woman for marriage. Also known as (kyz) ala kachuu, it means 'take (the girl) and run' in Kyrgyz language. Kidnappings as a pre-marriage practice have been reported across several regions of the world. In the Soviet comedy ‘Kavkaskaya pleniza, ili Novye priklyucheniya Shurika’ (Kidnapping, Caucasian Style), Shurik, the main character, is fooled into kidnapping a young woman as appropriate to local customs in a mountainous area of the Caucasus, where the practice is still alive nowadays. In Kyrgyzstan and in the South of Kazakhstan, there has been a steep surge in forced bride kidnappings since the end of the Soviet Union. |
The ala kachuu vary in degree of violence and consent: from an elopement of the bride that is consensual to the violent and non-consensual. Boundaries between the two are often blurred and difficult to discern. In the Kazakh language, the expression qyz alyp qashu (take the girl and run) can be specified further by adding adjectives kelisimsiz to denote a non-consensual abduction, or kelisimmen for consensual abduction (Werner 2009). In Kyrgyz tradition, even in the case of elopement, the bride has to display reluctance to marry as a way of asserting her innocence and purity.
According to the custom, the kidnapping is planned ahead and involves the future groom’s friends and family. In the most common scenario, the groom, aided by young men, abducts the girl from the streets, stuffs her into a car, and transports her to his house. There, everything has already been set up for the event. In a space delimited by a thin curtain in the living room, female family members are in charge of persuading the future bride to wear a white scarf, which symbolizes her consent, and to write a letter of marriage acceptance to her parents (Borbieva 2012). This process of may last days. However, the more time goes by, the less likely the girl will manage to escape, because if she spends the night in the abductor’s house, people will start questioning her virginity (Werner et al. 2018). In the meantime, a delegation formed by the groom’s family members (achuu basar, lit. pain/anger relief) visits the bride’s parents; informs them about the situation and apologizes by offering gifts, and a sheep as the bride price (kalym) (Becker, Mirkasimov and Steiner 2017).
Coercive methods to compel the girl to agree to the marriage include rape (Kim 2020), as well as a range of threatening techniques: curses, having older women lying on the doorstep or placing bread in the doorway, so that if the girl decides to escape, she will have to step over them, which is believed to bring bad luck. The abducted woman can potentially still refuse the marriage, but these cases are rare because of the repercussions on her and her family’s reputation (Amsler and Kleinbach 1999). A woman who walked away from the kidnapper house becomes less appealing for future marriages, because she is considered impure and disrespectful to the Kyrgyz culture (Handrahan 2004). Usually, the bride's relatives do not oppose or rescue their daughter as they fear that she would not get married at all, a highly undesirable outcome in Kyrgyzstan (Borbieva 2012).
Bride kidnapping is illegal and kidnappers may face up to 10 years in prison according to the Kyrgyz Criminal Code (Ministerstvo Yustitsii Kyrgyzskoy Respubliki). Nonetheless, these crimes are rarely reported and punishment is rarely enforced. In fact, ala kachuu practices generally enjoy social acceptance because it is believed to be a national tradition, suppressed during the Soviet Union. Yet, scholars suggest that in the pre-Soviet period bride kidnappings were rare (Werner et al. 2018). When they occurred, the punishment was severe because they violated the Adat, the Kyrgyz customary law that required the agreement between families for their children to enter marriage, as well as the Islamic law, which requires consent from both the groom and bride (Kleinbach and Salimjanova 2007). Occasionally, consensual bride kidnappings in the form of elopement were orchestrated to counter parents’ opposition to the marriage and/or to avoid wedding-related expenses. In the Soviet period, non-consensual marriage was officially banned in all its forms, but forced bride kidnapping started to be practiced more frequently, especially towards the end of the Soviet Union (Werner 2009).
Given the reluctance to denounce these crimes, there is a lack of comprehensive data on the phenomenon. In 2018, The Ombudsman of Kyrgyzstan, declared that every year around 5-7 thousand families, out of 50 000, are formed through bride kidnapping (‘Akyykatchy Kyrgyzskoy Respubliki: 2018). A report provided by UNFPA (2016), which differentiates between consensual and non-consensual bride kidnapping, mentions that 22 per cent of Kyrgyz women were abducted, 16 per cent of them in a consensual manner and 6 per cent without consent. Earlier findings suggest that every year there are around 11,800 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 2014) – 16,000 (Luzyuk 2011) victims of ala kachyy. Ibraeva, Moldosheva and Niyazova (2011) highlight the upward trend in the years after independence, by reporting that the percentage of bride kidnapping rose from 33 per cent in 1999 to 45 per cent in 2004.
Scholars often link bride kidnapping to the ethnic nationalism that has gained momentum after independence, and considered it as an expression of the revival of patriarchy, aiming at (re)gaining control of female bodies (Werner et al., 2018). In addition to that, unstable economic conditions may encourage this practice by financially limiting the possibility of meeting the traditionally high wedding expenses, such as in-law parties and fests and dowry.
Bride kidnapping not only violates human rights and Kyrgyz legislation, but it also has long lasting effects on families leading to domestic violence and higher rates of divorce. Among victims of ala kachuu, there have been frequent cases of suicide. In 2018 and 2021, two deadly cases of bride kidnapping sparked large protests in the country, where grassroot and civil society actors are raising awareness and demanding for law enforcement and more severe punishments. In 2020, Open Line, a Bishek-based NGO, released a mobile game designed for young people so that they can learn how to ask for help if they are victim of ala kachuu or if they witness a case. In a similar fashion, not only media and the government are increasingly labelling bride kidnapping as a crime, and not a tradition (Kalikov 2021), but also the Deputy Mufty has stressed its incompatibility with Islam (Ulanova 2021). Despite these efforts, the practice is still widespread, and law enforcement officers tend to downplay the offence and attempt to pacificate the two sides. In 2018, Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy was stabbed to death by her kidnapper inside a room at the police station, where they were left alone by police officials.
Funding
This research was realized as part of the EU Commission Horizon2020 MSCA Innovative Training Networks (MSCA-ITN) project MARKETS: Mapping Uncertainties, Challenges and Future Opportunities of Emerging Markets: Informal Barriers, Business Environments and Future Trends in Eastern Europe, The Caucasus and Central Asia, Grant agreement ID: 861034.
References
Akyykatchy Kyrgyzskoy Respubliki. 2018. ‘Ala kachuu - pozornoye yavleniye dlya Kyrgyzstana, - ombudsmen’, https://ombudsman.kg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=538:ала-качуу-–-позорное-явление-для-кыргызстана,-–-омбудсмен&catid=18&lang=ru&Itemid=330
Amsler, S. and Kleinbach, R. 1999. ‘Bride kidnapping in the Kyrgyz Republic’, International Journal of Central Asian Studies, 4:185–216
Becker, C.M., Mirkasimov, B. and Steiner, S. 2017. ‘Forced Marriage and Birth Outcomes’, Demography, 54(4): 1401–1423
Borbieva, N.O. 2012. ‘Kidnapping Women: Discourses of Emotion and Social Change in the Kyrgyz Republic’, Anthropological Quarterly, 85(1): 141–169
Handrahan, L. 2004. ‘Hunting for Women: Bride-kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan’, International Feminist Journal of Politics, 6(2): 207–233
Kalikov, M. 2021 ‘«Ala kachuu — eto ne traditsiya, eto ugolovno nakazuyemoye prestupleniye». Prem'yer Maripov otreagiroval na ubiystvo Ayzady Kanatbekovoy’, Kloop.kg, 8 April, https://kloop.kg/blog/2021/04/08/ala-kachuu-eto-ne-traditsiya-eto-ugolovno-nakazuemoe-prestuplenie-premer-maripov-otreagiroval-na-ubijstvo-ajzady-kanatbekovoj/
Kim, E. 2020. ‘Re-Feminizing the Post-Soviet Women: Identity, Politics and Virginity Ceremonies in Contemporary Kyrgyzstan’, Journal of Gender Studies, 29(6): 706–716
Kleinbach, R. and Salimjanova, L. 2007. ‘Kyz Ala Kachuu and Adat : Non-Consensual Bride Kidnapping and Tradition in Kyrgyzstan’, Central Asian Survey, 26(2):217–233
Luzyuk, K. 2011. ‘Yezhegodno v Kyrgyzstane pokhishchayetsya 16 tysyach chelovek’, Vesti.kg, 25 November, https://vesti.kg/obshchestvo/item/8879-ezhegodno-v-kyirgyizstane-pohischaetsya-16-tyisyach-chelovek.html.
Ministerstvo Yustitsii Kyrgyzskoy Respubliki. Ugolovnyy kodeks Kyrgyzskoy Respubliki, http://cbd.minjust.gov.kg/act/view/ru-ru/568?cl=ru-ru
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 2014. ‘Bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan’, 29 May, https://www.rferl.org/a/bride-kidnapping-in-kyrgyzstan/25403604.html
Ulanova, B. 2021. ‘Kadyr Malikov: Soglasno islamu, ala kachuu - bol'shoy grekh i tyazhkoye prestupleniye’, Kaktus Media, 8 April, https://kaktus.media/doc/435370_kadyr_malikov:_soglasno_islamy_ala_kachyy_bolshoy_greh_i_tiajkoe_prestyplenie.html
UNFP. 2016. Gender in Perception of Society, https://kyrgyzstan.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/GSPS_english.pdf
Werner, C. 2009. ‘Bride Abduction in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Marking a Shift towards Patriarchy through Local Discourses of Shame and Tradition’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 15(2): 314–331
Werner, C. et al. 2018. ‘Bride Kidnapping in Post-Soviet Eurasia: a Roundtable Discussion’, Central Asian Survey, 37(4): 582–601