Diana Markosian. Goodbye my Chechnya

 An empty bedroom which Elina Aleroyeva once shared with her husband. Aleroyeva, 25, says her husband was at work when security forces kidnapped her husband on May 9, 2011- accusing him of being a militant. Disappearances used to be a signature abuse in both Chechen wars and continue to take place.

 Chechen dancers backstage at a concert hall in the Chechen capital, Grozny. A suicide bomb exploded in front of the concert hall in 2009, killing six people and wounding several others.

 At sunset in the outskirts of Grozny, Kazbek Mutsaev, 29, fires celebratory gun shots as part of an age-old wedding tradition in Chechnya.

 Jamila Idalova, 16, on her wedding day. The teen bride was kidnapped by her boyfriend. Idalova's family eventually approved the marriage. Bridal kidnappings are outlawed under strongman Ramzan Kadyrov.

 A group of Chechen men at a party, standing at the opposite end of the women. In Chechnya, under strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, gender segregation is being enforced.

 Layusa Ibragimova, 15, has her hair and nails done before her wedding. Her marriage to 19-year-old Ibragim Isaev was finalized by her father just weeks before.

 Chechen girls wait to be picked up for a party in the village of Achkoy-Martan.

 Party guests cheer as a couple dances Lezginka, a traditional dance performed in the North Caucasus.

 Seda Makhagieva, 15, sits beside her friends as they adjust her head covering. The teen started wearing the head covering a year ago - despite her family's disapproval.

 Chechen girls at a lecture hall in downtown Grozny.

 A Chechen teen, who considers herself 'emo,' a person who dresses in pink and black and is suicidal, puts on lip gloss in her room. When asked if she wants to kill herself, she said: "I don't know yet." Chechen youth who are influeced by the Western emo subculture are targets of violence by authorities in the region.

 A Chechen boy checks out a girl from his black tinted window. Despite official measures, bride kidnapping continues to be an endemic problem. Young women in Chechnya are kidnapped off the street and married to men they may never have met.

 Amina Mutieva , 21, prays before her class at the Islamic University in Grozny.

 Chechen girls after school in front of the Heart of Chechnya mosque, the largest in Europe. All Chechen girls, despite religion, must wear a head covering in public schools and government buildings.

 Chechen artists backstage before their performance. All women in Chechnya must wear headscarves in public schools and state buildings. Celebrities were among the first to conform, making the head cover a fashion statement.

 Gym class at School No 1 in the Chechen village of Serzhen-Yurt. The schoolgirls, who are dressed in long flowing skirts and head covers, refuse to their gym pants because they say it violates Muslim dress code.

 Chechen teens study the Koran at an underground medrese. In today's Chechnya, Chechen youth are quick to embrace Islam after decades of religious repression in the Soviet Union.

 Half of the girls in the ninth grade at School No 1-- in the Chechen village of Serzhen-Yurt - wear a hijab. The head and neck covering is a sharp break from Chechen tradition.

A couple on a date in the small village of Serzhen-Yurt. Couples in Chechnya must meet in public and sit a distance from one another. All physical contact is forbidden prior to marriage

Seda Makhagieva, 15, wraps a pastel-colored head and neck covering. Makhagieva fought to wear the hijab - a sharp break from her families' traditions.

http://www.dianamarkosian.com/