Difference between revisions of "Blood revenge (Caucasus)"

Blood revenge – a custom of avenging a grave insult by killing either the offender or his male relatives – has been prevalent in the Caucasus for centuries. Various terms have historically been used across the Caucasus to designate blood revenge or blood feud (that is, a cycle of subsequent blood revenges). These include ch'ir in Chechen, ch'ir or pkhä in Ingush, bidul k'isas in Avar, öttul kisas or badal in Lak, kanga kan or kanly in Kumyk and Noghai, litsvri in Svan, and qanli qisas in Azerbaijani, to name a few. This social practice expired in most of the region over the twentieth century owing to processes of modernisation and urbanisation. However, it is still commonplace in Chechnya and Ingushetia, two ethnic republics within the Russian Federation (Souleimanov 2007: 24-29)<ref>Souleimanov, E. 2007. An Endless War: The Russian-Chechen Conflict in Perspective. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang</ref>.