\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n \u201cWe were already married. Sure, we hadn\u2019t had a wedding, but we\u2019d already officially registered our marriage. And one time we wanted to spend the night in a hotel in Baku, but at the reception desk they demanded to see our marriage certificate. We were shocked \u2014 it\u2019s not like an ID that you carry around all the time. The receptionist said that they\u2019re required to demand a marriage certificate from couples who come to the hotel, especially if they\u2019re young and they don\u2019t have any children with them. Well, we had a photo of the certificate on our phones, so we ended up showing that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Inara Jamal is a lawyer who helps people resolve problems in the legislative arena. But she says that this problem which she encountered herself is one of social norms.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI can\u2019t find any other explanation. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s right. In Europe and even in Turkey I never encountered this. I think it\u2019s absurd, because there is no legislative basis for it. It\u2019s just an order given to hotels by who knows who. But I don\u2019t think that there\u2019s any public disapproval. Moreover, a large part of the public approves of and supports it. An acquaintance of mine (he and his family are conservative) heard about it and was sincerely surprised that I disagreed. \u2018What\u2019s the matter? That\u2019s how it should be', he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n I asked why he thinks that, and he answered, \u2018And why should people who aren\u2019t officially married stay in a hotel together?!\u2019 Let\u2019s say they\u2019re just on vacation. I don\u2019t see any problem in that and I think it\u2019s totally fine. But for some reason the public views it negatively, and until people change the way they feel about it, this \u2018unwritten law\u2019 won\u2019t change, either.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n In August 2020, Laman Mammadova and Elchin Hamidli were planning a vacation in the village of Gunashli in the Lerik region, and they booked a place to stay online in advance. But their vacation was ruined because they didn\u2019t have a marriage certificate.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe wanted to take a vacation somewhere in the mountains but we knew that hotels won\u2019t take unmarried couples,\u201d says Laman. \u201cSo we decided to read reviews online and try to find out what private homes [foreign] tourists usually stayed in. In theory, the owners of those homes ought to be more modern and shouldn\u2019t ask for a marriage certificate. We found a nice house and read all the information about it. There was nothing there about a marriage certificate, but when we arrived the owner wouldn\u2019t take us because we weren\u2019t married. He didn\u2019t refund our money, either. He said that he didn\u2019t want people in an illicit relationship staying in his home. He certainly wouldn\u2019t have said anything like that to [foreign] tourists, but when it\u2019s locals, Azerbaijanis immediately want to interfere.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n \u201cA girl should think about her reputation\u201d
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n Meydan TV contacted the owner of that house in the village of Gunashli, and he confirmed that he doesn\u2019t demand a marriage certificate from foreign tourists, but he doesn\u2019t want to rent out his home to unmarried couples from Baku. And the reason he gave was Azerbaijani traditions.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSometimes a couple comes and says that they\u2019re engaged. I say if that\u2019s the case, then wait for your wedding, and then no one will bother you. Everything in its own time. A girl should think about her reputation. And if she doesn\u2019t care about it, then I have to. I can\u2019t allow that kind of obscenity in my home. Let [foreign] tourists do what they want, but we Muslims must protect our honor", he explained.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nurlan thinks that if two people love each other and are happy together, they shouldn\u2019t have to inform the public or the state, or get some kind of document, saying, "When two people are in love \u2013 and not necessarily a guy and a girl, it could be an LGBT couple \u2013 if living together makes them happy, why should they feel required to get a piece of paper from the government? It\u2019s absurd and illogical.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n Produced with the support of the Russian Language News Exchange.
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Why do young unmarried couples who want to live together risk becoming homeless in Azerbaijan?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":159996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n