‘Hidden Violence’: Polygamy in the Balkans

Three years after his death, 56-year-old Emine is scarred by the physical and mental abuse she endured.

"When he got drunk, he would lose himself," she said. Once, "I sat outside with the children all night. I was not allowed to go inside until he fell asleep."

"It was constant. He was drunk every day. Every day the same."

Emine's account provides a rare glimpse into polygamy in the Balkans, a practice known as 'ortaklek' and still present - albeit in small numbers - among some Muslim communities.

As in most countries around the world, polygamy is illegal in North Macedonia, where Emine lives, and there is no official data on how prevalent it might be. Unofficial estimates suggest there may be hundreds of cases.

In Islam, supporters of polygamy cite the Quran and the fact that Prophet Muhammad himself had many wives. But historians point out that the practice was encouraged during times of war, when many widows and orphans required financial support.

Today, it is a form of abuse, said Tatjana Stojanoska Ivanova, professor of sociology at North Macedonia's biggest public university, Saints Cyril and Methodius University in the capital, Skopje.

"Violence exists, but it is tacit," Stojanoska Ivanova told BIRN. "Although she can turn to the institutions of the system, she is not encouraged enough because she is economically dependent, she has no support from family because she has decided on such a way of life."

"It is a form of hidden violence, a hidden social phenomenon… Encouraging these women to speak in public is very difficult because the environment itself will condemn them."

Illegal, but sometimes tolerated

Polygamy is allowed to at least some degree in dozens of countries...