At this time the betrothal ceremony for the wedding between Ax and Ay was celebrated. Yusuf was father's brother's son to the bride, and though engaged himself to a daughter of Hayip (B), he took upon himself to intervene with the traditional and forceful protest; he fired shots over the heads of the departing guests (Salim, (1962) p. 50).
He declared that he would stop the wedding at all costs, but the parties showed no signs of being cowed. Three days later, close to sundown, in the centre of the village, he drew a gun and shot Mehmet at short range. Mehmet died a few minutes later. Yusuf fled, under fire, to be arrested in another village. This act separated the two sides again; or rather it created a new split, between C lineage and Ax. Up to this point C lineage had not been involved. People said that reconciliation was impossible, and revenge sooner or later certain. Yet by 1955 nothing further had happened; the two original sides Ay and Ax were more or less reconciled, and the wedding had taken place. But C lineage maintained an attitude of general nonco-operation, and remained hostile (küs) to Ax.
This case illustrates a number of points. First, it is perfectly normal for a village to have a definite split into two factions. In one other village I was told that one large lineage had the previous year, 1948, fought the whole of the rest of the village, again over the headmanship. One man was killed. But as far as I could judge from the outside, most other villages in the area were more like Sakaltutan in having a complex structure of rivalries and loyalties which did not easily break down into two sides.
Secondly, it illustrates the possibilities of settlement, and the much tougher problem presented once a death has taken place. Thirdly, it illustrates the way in which an incident between members of already hostile lineages can lead to serious trouble. And finally, it makes it clear how difficult it is to sort out personal fear and resentment, notions of personal and lineage honour, and factional struggles for power in the village.