WUNRN
Institute for War & Peace
Reporting
Price of Marriage
in Turkmenistan
By
News Briefing Central Asia - 19 Marcn 2012
An
old tradition where grooms make a substantial payment to the bride’s family is
flourishing in Turkmenistan, and the sums changing hands are getting higher.
The
custom of paying for a bride, known as “kalym”, has seen a significant revival
in Turkmenistan in the years since the Soviet period, when it was officially
banned. Nine of ten Turkmen marriages contracted in 2011 involved a transaction
of this kind.
A
kalym payment can reach up to 10,000 US dollars. A local Muslim cleric said the
highest prices were paid for marriage to a woman with a university education,
in a public sector job, or skilled in a traditional craft.
Maral,
an 18-year-old in the northern town of Kunya-Urgench, described how her future
husband spotted her at a friend’s wedding, then sent go-betweens to discuss
terms for marriage.
Maral’s
parents initially demanded nearly 10,000 dollars but settled for just under
5,000, and also agreed to provide the traditional dowry of furniture, household
appliances, clothes and gold jewellery.
The
bride said she was pleased with the financial settlement and did not feel like
a commodity.
“I’m
happy that I successfully got married and joined a good family, and that my
husband and his parents treat me like a person, not purchased goods,” she said.
Others
argue that the practice tends to do just that.
Some
young women like Gyzylgul, 18, say they will feel “undervalued” if the kalym
paid for them is less that that of their peers.
The
cost of marriage is a huge burden for the groom’s parents, according to
Annameret from Tejen, a small town in southeastern Turkmenistan.
“You
can get a good bride price for a girl, so many families are happiest when a
baby daughter is born, whereas a son’s marriage means ruin, debt and a
continual search for money,” Annameret said.
In
Keshi, a village on the fringes of the capital Ashgabat, local elder
Amannazar-aga is a firm believer in the tradition, which he says provides a
good financial foundation for marriage. Now 70, he says most of the weddings he
has witnessed have involved kalym, and he says this encourages young couples to
take their vows seriously, whether they dated beforehand or meet only at the
wedding in an arranged matter.
“The
bride price strengthens the marriage and keeps newlyweds from divorcing,” he
said.
Unofficial
statistics suggest that Turkmenistan has one of the world’s lowest divorce
rates, with formalised separation affecting just over one in 1,000 families.
A
civil registry official in Ashgabat attributed this largely to the kalym
tradition.
“Men
know that if they get divorced, their parents will lose the money they paid as
kalym, and that remarrying will cost even more,” she said.
She
conceded, however, that the custom could also force women to stay in unhappy
marriages.
“The
bride price makes the girl tractable, because she knows it would be difficult
to get married a second time,” she said.