Annual Oil Wrestling Festival in Alanya

Alanya Mayor Adem Murat Yucel announced that the 17th National Oil Wrestling Festival (Gökbel Yaylası Yağlı Pehlivan Güreşleri) will be held on August 12 and 13 on the Gökbel Plateau. Turkish güreş oil fights are one of the oldest sports. The first fights were held in 1361 in Edirne (Kırpkınar). The Kırpkınar Festival is considered the largest güreş festival in Turkey. It is even listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest competition in terms of time. 

Before the start of any güresh festival, an auction is held to determine the Agha. Simply put, the Agha is the festival sponsor who is responsible for hosting the guests and overseeing the event. Among locals, being an Agha is considered very honorable. For example, in 2019 in Kırkpınar, the title of Agha was given to Seyfettin Selim, who paid 661 thousand liras (120 thousand dollars) for it.

The fighters in güresh are called pehlivans, and the winners are called bashpehlivans. Before the fight, pehlivans wear kisbet - rather heavy leather pants sewn by hand. According to the rules, one fight lasts 40 minutes. It is not easy to win in such a fight, because the bodies of the fighters are heavily oiled, which makes it very difficult to grab. The winner is the one who first puts the opponent on his back or on his side, or walks at least 3 steps, holding the opponent on the canopy, or lifts him upside down and throws him back. If after 40 minutes both pehlivans are on their feet, 7 more minutes are added. If there is no winner after that, another final fight is scheduled. 

Another important rule is that one must not grab the outside of the kisbet with his hands. Since there is nothing about the inside of the kisbet in the rules, many fighters often grab the opponent by the inside of the pants. To do this, as you understand, you need to literally put your hand into the opponent's pants. As a consequence, after each festival, a large number of quite comical photos appear in social networks:)

The festival in Alanya, as well as in other cities, will be accompanied by dancing and live music. Visitors will be offered a variety of Turkish cuisine. Popular Turkish singers Ayşe Dinçler and Sibel Can will perform on the concert stage in the evening. The mayor of Alanya visited the festival venue, supervising the preparatory works for this important event. "We invite everyone to be guests of our annual güreş festival and enjoy the spectacle where around 1,000 fighters will compete for the title of bashpehlivan. The award ceremony will be conducted by the famous champion of the Kyrkpınar festival - Yusuf Jan Zeybek," he said.