site.btaEU-backed Project Preserves Century-old Traditions in Edirne and Yambol

The Association for the Promotion and Revitalization of Kirkpinar Culture in Edirne and Tundzha Municipality in Yambol worked to promote and preserve centuries-old traditions such as grease wrestling (Turkiye) and Kukeri (Bulgaria) through a EU-backed project. BTA learned of the project from Alper Yazoglu, holder of a Golden Belt in grease wrestling and chair of the association in Edirne, which is responsible for the EU project.

Grease wrestling became a tradition with the arrival of the Turks in Western Anatolia and especially with the conquest of Edirne in the 14th century. It is considered the oldest mass competition in the world and is a tourist attraction in Edirne, where the Kirkpinar tournament annually gathers thousands of spectators, among them politicians, ministers and public figures, who watch the competing wrestlers - or Pehlivan - fight for the Golden Belt and the title of Chief Pehlivan, Yazoglu told BTA. "Historically, the Kirkpinar event is the oldest and most important organized grease wrestling competition," Yazoglu said, citing the Guinness Book of Records. 

2024 saw the 663rd edition of the Kirkpinar competition. 

The bouts are held in a proving ground called er meydanı in the course of a full week, from dawn till dusk. The Pehlivan fighters cover their bodies in oil - hence the name of the competition.

The event attracts the interest of many tourists from Bulgaria and other countries, as the competitions are held in an open stadium for a whole week, with competitors smearing their bodies with oil, hence the name grease wrestling. Each year the competition is opened by its patron, the Aga of Kirkpinar, whose task is to provide material and cultural support to the traditional sporting event. The Golden Belt is carried through the city in a procession, followed by prayers in the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, while the wrestlers, so called pehlivans, are anointed with oil before they enter the arena.

The traditional competition has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2010 and was promoted within the framework of a joint cross-border project with Bulgaria under the Interreg-IPA Programme in 2017, together with the Kukerlandia International Masquerade Festival in Yambol. Within the framework of the project, the Kirkpinar grease wrestling competition was broadcast live on screens in Yambol, while Yambol presented the Kukerlandia Festival in Edirne.

Yazoglu also noted other initiatives to promote grease wrestling in Bulgaria, including organizing grease wrestling events in Razgrad since 1998. "We also supported the purchase of Yusuf Ismail's house in the village of Cherna and its conversion into a museum, and we continue to support the organization of grease wrestling in memory of Yusuf Ismail, held annually in August under the auspices of Hitrino Municipality", he said. Wrestling events were also organized in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, and in Skopje, North Macedonia.