Baku, August 2025 — Azerbaijan has drawn a red line under one of its oldest traditions: marriages between close relatives. With a new law banning consanguineous unions, the government says it is protecting future generations. In reality, it is cleaning up a centuries-old social habit that has crippled families, drained the healthcare system, and condemned thousands of children to a life of disease.
Thalassemia: A National Scourge
Azerbaijan ranks among the global leaders in thalassemia — a hereditary blood disorder that has become almost synonymous with the country’s genetic burden. For decades, doctors warned that intra-family marriages were fueling its spread. Entire villages became trapped in a vicious cycle: cousin marries cousin, the gene pool shrinks, and another generation of sick children is born.
The numbers are brutal. Each year, thousands of families are forced into a lifetime of costly treatment, while the state shoulders the expense of specialized clinics and endless blood transfusions. The price of tradition has been measured in broken bodies and broken lives.
Tradition Meets Resistance
The backlash is predictable. In conservative regions, people grumble: “Our fathers and grandfathers lived this way. Why change now?” But this isn’t nostalgia for customs — it’s denial of science. Urban youth, by contrast, see the law as long overdue: “Enough of outdated practices that destroy lives. It’s time to live in the 21st century.”
A Political Gamble
The government’s mistake was in the execution. The law was slammed through without a real public education campaign. Overnight, what had been tolerated for centuries became a crime. That heavy-handed approach risks resentment and underground defiance, particularly in rural areas where social conservatism runs deep.
What Comes Next
Legislation alone won’t solve the problem. Without proper education, access to genetic counseling, and investment in healthcare, the ban risks becoming symbolic — while cousin marriages continue in the shadows.
The ban is only the first half of the journey. The second is education, healthcare, and access to genetic counseling. Without systemic work, the risk remains that such marriages will continue illegally.
Azerbaijan has taken an important step, but the road ahead is long: only a combination of law, science, and public awareness can change the situation.
Thalassemia is not fate — it is the result of choice. Now the country has no right to make a mistake.
