Gharshelegh(قارشلق)

Gharshelegh is a tradition among the Turkmen people of Raz and Jargalan County located in Northeast Iran. This is in fact a kind of boy and girl exchange among families, with an intention of marriage. Alireza is a young man of 36 years who, along with his sister, became a victim of this tradition after being forced to marry his own cousin. After visiting Tehran and seeing open relationships between men and women, he gets frustrated and after a while separates from his wife. After several years, Alireza has now decided to choose a spouse once again, regardless of the wishes of his parents, and by ignoring cumbersome old traditions.