My-Wrestling-Guide

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Countries - Turkey

Turkey

Turkey is a parliamentary republic largely located in Western Asia with a small part in Southeastern Europe. The Mediterranean Sea is to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and the Black Sea to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles demarcate the boundary between Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia. Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. Istanbul is a transcontinental city in Eurasia, with its commercial and historical centre lying on the European side and about a third of its population living on the Asian side of Eurasia. With a population of 14.4 million, the city forms the largest urban agglomeration in Europe as well as the largest in the Middle East, and the sixth-largest city proper in the world.Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus strait in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea.
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city.. The city has a mean elevation of 938 meters (3,077 ft) and in 2014 had a population of 5,150,072, with its metropolitan municipality having 4,965,542.It is the center of the Turkish government, and an important commercial and industrial city. Located in Central Anatolia, Ankara is an important crossroads of trade, strategically located at the center of Turkey's highway and railway networks, and serves as the marketing center for the surrounding agricultural area. The historical center of Ankara is situated upon a rocky hill, which rises 150 m (492 ft) above the plain on the left bank of the Ankara Çayı, a tributary of the Sakarya (Sangarius) river. Although situated in one of the driest places of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation except for the forested areas on the southern periphery, Ankara can be considered a green city.

Tourism

Tourism in Turkey has experienced rapid growth in the last twenty years, and constitutes an important part of the economy. In 2013, 37.8 million foreign visitors arrived in Turkey.; 15 percent of the tourists were from Germany, 11 percent from Russia, 8 percent from the United Kingdom. Turkey has 13 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as the "Historic Areas of Istanbul", the "Rock Sites of Cappadocia", the "Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük", "Hattusa: the Hittite Capital", the "Archaeological Site of Troy", "Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape", "Hierapolis – Pamukkale", and "Mount Nemrut"; and 51 World Heritage Sites in tentative list, such as the archaeological sites or historic urban centers of Göbekli Tepe, Gordion, Ephesus, Aphrodisias und Perga. Turkey hosts two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, which are the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Temple of Artemis.

Sport in Turkey

The most popular sport in Turkey is association football (soccer). Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2000. The Turkish national football team finished 3rd and won the bronze medal in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Other mainstream sports such as basketball and volleyball are also popular. The Turkish men's national basketball team won the silver medal in the finals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship and EuroBasket 2001, which were both hosted by Turkey. The Turkish women's national volleyball team won the silver medal in the 2003 European Championship, the bronze medal in the 2011 European Championship, and the bronze medal in the 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix. The traditional Turkish national sport has been yağlı güreş (oiled wrestling) since Ottoman times. Edirne has hosted the annual Kırkpınar oiled wrestling tournament since 1361. International wrestling styles governed by UWW (former FILA) such as Freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling are also popular, with many European, World and Olympic championship titles won by Turkish wrestlers both individually and as a national team.

The traditional Yagli Güres in Turkey.

Wrestling in Turkey

The Turkish Wrestling Federation, Türkiye Güres Federasyonu Baskanligi is leading the olympic and the traditional wrestling styles in turkey. The federation have 85 000 active wrestler (about 3500 females) and headquarter is in the capital Ankara. Association President is the two-time Olympic champion Hamza Yerlikaya. Wrestling has a good reputation in turkey because Turkey has won 58 of its total 87 Olympic medals in wrestling. Turkish athletes have collected 28 gold, 16 silver and 14 bronze medals so far.

Olympic Champion 2008 Ramazan Sahin. Elif Yesirlimak the first female turkish world class wrestler.

International Situation

Turkey has won 28 Olympic championships in wrestling, in the history. The first title took Yasar Erkan 1936 in Berlin at featherweight and the last one Ramazan Sahin in lightweight freestyle in Beijing in 2008. The most successful Olympic Games for Turkey were in Rome in 1960, where the wrestlers from the Bosphorus won seven gold medals. 1948 at the Games in London Turkey won six gold medals. Turkey lost this supremacy during the seventies and eighties because the wrestlers mainly from eastern europe had a superior sport system. In the nineties the results improved again. The brilliant achievement of a double Olympic victory succeeded Mithat Bayrak (1956 and 1960) and Hamza Yerlikaya (1996 and 2000). Turkey won 47 world titles at senior level (15 in greco / roman style and 32 in freestyle. The last five titles won Nazmi Avluca (2009), Cebi Selcuk (2009 and 2010), Riza Kayaalp (2011) and Taha Akguel (2014). For a long time wrestling in Turkey was only a mens sport but Elif Yesirlimak could win the first female international medal for Turkey at the World Championships 2014 in Tashkent.

FILA Wrestling World Championships were held in Turkey in 1957, 1974, 1994, 1999 and 2011. The Turkish team won the Men's freestyle championship in 1951, 1954, 1957, 1966 and 1994; and the Men's Greco-Roman championship in 2006 and 2009.

Two turkish world class wrestlers Nazmi Avluca (left, blue) and Taha Akgül (rigth, red).

National Situation

Wrestling has a rich history in Turkey. Yağlı güreş is considered as an "ancestral sport" in Turkey, represented foremost by the annual Kırkpınar tournament in oil wrestling.

Along with various highly esteemed styles of folk wrestling (known colloquially as çayır güreşi ("meadow wrestling") because bouts are held on grass fields), olympic wrestling (known colloquially as minder güreşi ("mat wrestling")) is widely practiced, while Greco-Roman wrestling is less popular due to freestyle wrestling's technical affinity with folk wrestling.

Styles practised nationwide (sanctioned by the Turkish Wrestling Federation):

Oil wrestling and Karakucak

Styles practised locally (sanctioned by the Turkey Traditional Sport Branches Federation):

Aba güreşi, Şalvar güreşi or kısa şalvar güreşi and Kuşak güreşi or Tatar güreşi

The Turkish Wrestling Foundation "Türk Güres Vafki" supports the turkish wrestlers in many ways. Young athletes get scholarships to enable them to a sporting career or older fighters are supported after their sports career further. The Foundation also has a subsidiary which operates the "Olympic Park Hotel".

Training Center: Yusufeli Güreş Eğitim Merkezi

Team competition in turkey "Süper Ligi Güres"

Also team-competitions are very popular in turkey. The " Güres Süper Ligi " is the turkish counterpart of the German Ringer Bundesliga. In contrast to the Bundesliga (with mixed styles), there are in Turkey three different leagues, each for one style (freestyle, greco / roman style and female). One league have 22 teams. For competition always three teams come together and compete against each other, each with nine athletes. Here are the six leading teams: