Bride kidnapping (), has a long history in Azerbaijan and the Caucasus, it entails a variety of actions, ranging from a consensual elopement to a non-consensual kidnapping, and the extent to which it happens is controversial. It is considered to be relatively common.
Kidnapping by itself is punishable by 5 years in Azerbaijani civil code, but it often goes unenforced in rural areas.
The Russian Empire and later USSR made the ancient practice formally illegal, though it often went unenforced, and was suppressed mainly in urban areas. Rejecting a kidnapping is often culturally unacceptable for women in rural areas, and is perceived as an insult to her family's honor.
Prominent cases include one in Qabala, in which 40-year-old ðntiqam Nabiyev kidnapped 13-year-old Senuber Hacñyeva after a family dispute. Though the government has worked to suppress the practice, it has never been entirely eradicated. In 2019, a Georgian high school teacher from the Azerbaijani-majority region of Karayaz in Gardabani was made to apologize for criticizing the practice. Another prominent case occurred in 2020 in Barda district.
In 1985, the studio Azerbaijanfilm released the movie BÃÂyin oÃÂurlanmasñ, which deals with the topic. In 2018, there was a movie made about the practice called Qñz Qaçñrtma, directed by Rufet Shahbazov. It went on to receive two sequels.