Sports, 3rd Prize
Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival
Elif Ozturk
Anadolu Agency
Anadolu Agency
14 July, 2018
Chief Pehlivan Ismail Balaban prepares for a bout on the second day of the Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival, in Sarayiçi, near Edirne, Turkey.
Kirkpinar is a Turkish oil-wrestling tournament dating back over 660 years. It is held annually over three days, usually in July, near Edirne, a city in the northwest of the country. Wrestlers (‘pehlivan’) wearing leather breeches (‘kispet’) compete on grass, after being covered with oil. They fight for the title of Chief Pehlivan and a belt made of 1,450 grams of gold. Matches can sometimes last several hours and are won when a wrestler pins another to the ground, or lifts him over his head.
Elif Ozturk
Elif Ozturk was born in 1986, in Rize, Turkey. She graduated from Yildiz Technical University in 2014 and began working as a freelance photographer. She is now an Anadolu A...
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