Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

(

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

: ''güreş'') is considered as an " ancestral sport" in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, represented foremost by the annual

Kırkpınar Kırkpınar is a Turkish oil wrestling ( tr, yağlı güreş) tournament where Pehlivans (wrestlers) compete for three days. It is held annually, usually in late June, near Edirne, Turkey since 1360. In the finals held on the last day, the first ...

tournament in

oil wrestling Oil wrestling ( tr, Yağlı güreş), also called grease wrestling, is a traditional Turkish sport, where participants, called ''pehlivan'' (wrestlers) or ''baspehlivan'' (master wrestlers), wrestle while covered in oil. Competitions are held in ...

. Along with various highly esteemed styles of

folk wrestling A folk wrestling style is any traditional style of wrestling, which may or may not be codified as a modern sport. Most cultures have developed regional forms of grappling. Europe Britain Traditionally wrestling has two main centres in Great ...

(known colloquially as ''çayır güreşi'', or "meadow wrestling", because bouts are held on grass fields),

olympic wrestling Since the Olympic Games began in Athens in 1896, wrestling (in the form of Greco-Roman wrestling) became a focus of the Games, with the exception of the 1900 Summer Olympics when wrestling did not appear on the program. Freestyle wrestling and wei ...

(known colloquially as ''minder güreşi'', or "mat wrestling") is widely practiced, while

Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), classic wrestling (Euro English) or French wrestling (in Russia until 1948) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first mod ...

is less popular due to

freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling ...

's technical affinity with folk wrestling. Turkey currently has only one

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

, Turkish Power Wrestling founded in 2010.

Turkish folk wrestling styles

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

Oil wrestling Oil wrestling ( tr, Yağlı güreş), also called grease wrestling, is a traditional Turkish sport, where participants, called ''pehlivan'' (wrestlers) or ''baspehlivan'' (master wrestlers), wrestle while covered in oil. Competitions are held in ...

(

: ''Yağlı Güreş '') *Styles practised locally (sanctioned by the Turkey Traditional Sport Branches Federation): **''Aba Güreşi'' (jacket wrestling) (in

Hatay Hatay Province ( tr, Hatay ili, ) is the southernmost province of Turkey. It is situated almost entirely outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province borders Syria to its south and east, the Turkish province of ...

) **''Aşırtmalı Aba Güreşi'' (belt wrestling) (in

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approximat ...

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana Province, Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart ...

Osmaniye Osmaniye () is a city on the eastern edge of the Çukurova plain in southern Turkey and the capital of Osmaniye province. Backed by the foothills of the Nur Mountains, Osmaniye lay on one of the old Silk Roads and was always a place of strategic ...

) **''Kısa Şalvar Güreşi'' (in

Kahramanmaraş Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş Province. Before 1973, Kahrama ...

) **''Kuşak Güreşi'' or ''Tatar Güreşi'' **''Kar üstü Karakucak Güreşi'' **''Şalvar Güreşi'' **''Torun Abası'' **''Siyah Aba'' **''Boz Aba'' **''Kırmızı Aba'' **''Maraş Abası'' **''Urfa Abası'' **''Çuha Abası'' **''Hamis Abası''

Sport wrestling

FILA Wrestling World Championships The World Wrestling Championships are the Amateur Wrestling World Championships organized by United World Wrestling. The Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling tournament began in 1904, and the Men's Freestyle Wrestling tournament began in 1951. The Women's ...

were held in Turkey in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. 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.

References

{{Reflist

External links

The World Ethnosport Confederation (WEC)Greko-romen güreşi biliyor musunuz?Türkiye Güreş Federasyonu - Yağlı GüreşTürkiye Güreş Federasyonu - Karakucak