This text may not be edited or altered, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission. For editorial licensing of the pictures or text, please contact ZUMA Press at (949) 494.7704 or e-mail Info@zReportage.com.

Sweat and Oil: Wrestling for a Future

Text by © Carine Cassuto/TCS/ZUMA Press

     In Turkey oil wrestling is more than a sport, it's the national sport. It's also a way out of poverty for many of the boys who start wrestling at a very young age. As they slither through the mud they dream of the fortune they will amass once they have won the yearly Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Tournament, the most important sports event in Turkey, which is attended by the president himself.

     To these boys, many of them not even teenagers, men like Ahmet Tasci are heroes. Tasci rules the oil wrestling roost despite being in his early 40s. He has won the Kirkpinar tournament three times in a row in recent years, which earned him possession of the Altin Kemer, or golden belt, the highest honor in oil wrestling. The Ox or the Sultan, as he is lovingly called along the Bosporus, is a bas pehlivan, or master wrestler, and a superstar in his native Turkey. Car companies like Mercedes and the national telecommunications company are lined up to sign lucrative contracts with the former bricklayer and all this has made him a rich man.

     "Oil wrestling is in our blood," says Kenan Simsek, another bas pehlivan. "It's the poor peoples' sport. A chance to escape from poverty. I would have probably become a farmer, like my father. Now I am a rich man in Turkey," Simsek told Esquire Magazine.

     Every year, thousands of Turkish wrestling enthusiasts flock to Sarayici, on the outskirts of Edirne, where the Kirkpinar tournament is held. But make no mistake, this three-day event is not just about oil wrestling as a sport; it's a celebration of Turkish history and a wonderful day out for the entire family rolled into one. Families picnic on the ground, roasting sizzling kebabs, while hawkers try to sell anything from microwave ovens and intricately designed backgammon sets to cheap trinkets like plastic kites. Makeshift restaurants and coffee houses and an entire carnival are put up ahead of the tournament.

     While the wrestlers line up on the meadow, a ram is auctioned of. The buyer will take up the role of aga, or master of ceremony. An opening prayer is said: "Allah, Allah, illalah. May we prosper. Our patron is Hamza, the wrestler. Our ancestors were wrestlers." Then the drums and the surna (a wind instrument with a double reed) begin to play and hundreds of wrestlers bow in salute. Then the wrestlers apply oil to their bodies in the prescribed manner: The right hand oils the left part of the body and then the left part of the kisbet (leather pants); the left hand then oils the right part of the body and isbet.

     But the rules haven't changed much over the centuries and are roughly similar to the Olympic sports of free-style and Roman-Greek wrestling. A match is won by pinning the opponent to the ground or lifting and carrying him for several steps. Oil wrestling requires even more skill and strength than ordinary wrestling due to the olive oil. Getting a grip is tricky business and consequently matches can last for hours. Wrestlers can be tangled in an oily embrace for minutes on end and then all of sudden break out in a flurry of movement.

     The origins of oil wrestling--particularly the oil facto--are unclear but according to Turkish legend, a band of Turkish soldiers led by Suleiman Pasha who held the first oil-wrestling contest. On their way back from conquering the Dardanelles in 1346 they stopped at the town of Ahir Kapi Cayiri. After putting up their tents, they started to wrestle to kill the time. In the end, only one couple was still wrestling, the brothers Ali and Selim Pehlivan. Suleiman Pasha halted the game at nightfall and ordered the match would be resumed at the annual Spring Festival, promising the winner a pair of kisbet. Again, the match dragged on and eventually both brothers died of exhaustion. Their comrades buried them under a fig tree. When they passed Ahir Kapi Cayiri several years later to visit the graves, they found that the tombs had disappeared and a fountain had sprung up instead. They named the spot Forty Springs, or Kirkpinar, after the original number of members of their unit. Ever since, the Turks have held oil-wrestling contests on this spot. The 2005 Kirkpinar tournament will be the 645th, making it the longest-running sports event in the world.

     To this day, wrestlers wear nothing but a kisbet, a kind of lederhosen, made out of buffalo and calf leather. The kisbet plays an important role during oil wrestling. Losing your kisbet means losing the match and thatís a real danger when the leather pants are pretty much the only thing around that offers some traction. That's why you will often see wrestlers grabbing at each other's crotches and sometimes even shoving their hands inside the opponent's kisbet.

     In recent years, oil wrestling has attracted a substantial gay following. The tussling oiled bodies and mutual groping in Turkey's ancient sport has been featured prominently in gay magazines around the world accompanied by generous photo spreads. Following the publicity, the action group Bears of Turkey (bears referring to gay men who prefer the hairy, chubby and cuddly type) were turned away from the Kirkpinar event.

     The genesis of the Kirkpinar incident was innocent enough. A group of gay men, who were just coming out of the closet in conservative and predominantly Muslim Turkey, happened to see a picture of Kirkpinar oil wrestling in the local newspaper. Thinking that it was "a nice picture with many bear-type wrestlers", as one of the organizers commented in Bearhistory, a gay e-zine on the Internet, the activists advertised a trip to the tournament with their newly-formed Bears of Turkey. The ad drew a lot of attention, not just from gay men but also from Kirkpinar's organizers. "It's immoral," Alper Yazoglu, chairman of the Traditional Sports Federation, told the Anatolian news agency at the time. "We are trying every way to have this stopped...We shall pass this matter on to the Interior, Foreign and other ministries to ask for this disgusting business to be stopped."

     Despite the conflicts between organizers and the gay community, the Turkish oil wrestling tradition lives on.

     This text may not be edited or altered, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission. For editorial licensing of the pictures or text, please contact ZUMA Press at (949) 494.7704 or e-mail Info@zReportage.com.

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