'Bride Price' Lifted, 4 Kids Married Off

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Sabah Newspaper, 30 April  2014)


Yildiz brothers and newly-discounted brides.


In Sanliurfa, Halaf Yildiz (60), the former mayor of
Konuklu  town and a member of the Binicil tribe,  has
two wives and 17 children. Yildiz has found it difficult
to marry off his children because of the 'bride price'
(money paid by the groom to the bride's family) tradition
prevalent in the region but he had an idea about how to
change things.

Yildiz got together with his family members and relatives
and said that he wanted to eliminate the 'bride price'.
He was able to confer with about 500 members of  the
20,000-strong tribe and made the case that young people
are not getting married and starting families because of the
onerous 'bride price'. Yildiz got agreement from a large
section of his tribe's members, who announced that the
'bride price' had been consigned to history.

With this, Yildiz married off his sons Halit (24), Yusuf (22)
and Mehmet Yildiz (23), all recently returned from military
duty, and his daughter Hatice (21) - all on the same day.
Father Halaf Yildiz explained that "I first spoke with my
family and relatives about getting rid of this practice from
our region.  We agreed to eliminate the 'bride price' and
I was able to marry off my three sons and a daughter at
once. The 'bride price' in the region is between 30,000
and 50,000 TL, so it's quite a burden. We want our decision
to be an example for other tribes."

Son Halit Yildiz said that he had waited 4 years to marry
his sweetheart Feride because of the 'bride price' problem.
He added that "the Yildiz family married off 4 siblings
at the same time. With the 'bride price' out of the way
lovers were able to marry. I waited 4 years for the girl
I love. Now I'm very happy."


Konuklu is just outside of  the capital city Sanliurfa.