In southeastern Turkey, where blood feuds are still common, even the smallest incident can lead to a protracted or even fatal dispute. It is a part of  a traditional value system in rural and predominatly Kurdish south-eastern Anatolia that places the honour of a family above all else.

Blood feuds mediator Sait Sanli has helped more than 450 blood feuds ended since he gave up butchering a decade ago, by his estimate. Sanli  had a five-member “peace committee” in Diyarbakir that assists him, he is still very much a one-man peacekeeping force. He’s the ambassador of peace.

He shuttles between families in far-flung towns and villages to hammer out peace agreements. He cajoles, admonishes, and, occasionally threatens. When all else fails, he resorts to crying. The sight of tears rolling down a grown man’s face is apparently enough to soften even the most hardened heart.

Sanli experienced firsthand the effects of a blood feud when he was 14. After an argument with a neighbor turned violent, he and his family had to flee their home village near Diyarbakir, resettling in a town several hours away.

Sait Sanli passed away on 2009.