In Turkey, a lone peacemaker ends many blood feuds

Since giving up his butchering business 10 years ago, Sait Sanli has helped settle 446 disputes – some stretching back decades.

from the June 2, 2008 edition

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On a recent Monday, Sanli was in his office receiving a constant stream of visitors asking for his assistance. Among them were two young men in dark blazers who were trying to end a 35-year-old dispute that had cost the life of their uncle. They had been able to get the younger generation from the families involved to sign on, but now needed Sanli to work on the older generations.

"I am trying to show people the importance of forgiveness, how important it is in our holy book [the Koran], and to show them how much they have been sacrificing by seeking revenge," says Sanli, a five-foot human dynamo who seems to be in perpetual motion, his hands gesticulating. "I tell them we can't do anything about the past, but we can do something about the future."

The enduring sway of blood feuds was made clear by two recent events that grabbed the headlines in Turkey. In early April, five members of one family were shot to death in Tarsus, caught up in a 20-year-old dispute that had its roots in Diyarbakir, some 335 miles away.

A few weeks later, five brothers were shot near the southeastern city of Sanliurfa, after fighting with a rival family about access to irrigation water.

"The blood feuds have remained resistant to Turkey's modernization," says Mazhar Bagli, a sociologist at Diyarbakir's Dicle University, who studies local family customs. "It's not easy to do what [Sanli] is trying to do. He's going against something very ancient."

A small address book, which Sanli also keeps in his jacket pocket, is testament to that. It carries, in black ink, the names of people who have threatened him.

But it also bears the names of those who have signed peace treaties he has brokered.

"The main thing is making people think about how they are acting, about what kind of example they are setting. I try to appeal to that sense in people. I'm trying to show people that there's a different way to do things, that there's a different way to live," he says.

His work leaves little time for rest; on some nights, he gets only two hours of sleep. "I never stop thinking about other people's problems. That's what keeps me going," Sanli says. "Doing this work makes me feel peaceful inside," he adds. "When my head touches my pillow at night, I feel peace."

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