CAMEL WRESTLING
The Selcuk Camel Wrestling Festival is held annually on a Sunday in late January
- usually around the 20th. The festival coincides with the Camels' breeding
season (the reason they compete: for females) and thus is not seen at any other
time of the year.
In 2000 it was relocated to a special field near Pamucak Beach. It is no longer
held in the ruined Stadium at Ephesus for archeological reasons.It is a huge
event and there are abundant buses from Selcuk Bus station: about ~10 minutes'
drive and then a 10 minute walk. The admission is usually around US$3-4.
The action starts around late morning but the crowds arrive much earlier for a
choice of view. For any kind of good seat the earlier you go, the more choice of
seat location. It is filling up briskly even at 9 am. Even if it is sunny and
bright, it will probably also be muddy and cold (it is mid-winter, after all).
It may even rain. Attendees are urged to prepare for all of these with very warm
clothing, waterproof padded seating and umbrellas.
SEATING:
"First in, best dressed" basis; NO reservations or seats provided. It's a
flat field with "ring side" areas and a HILL SLOPE which acts like a natural
"grand stand". Presume you will be sitting on cold mud or wet grass. A minimum
of a LARGE garbage bag and a collapsed cardboard carton / thick newspaper should
be taken to sit on. Turks picnic and take barbecues, tables, chairs - everything
to "make a day of it". Snacks and hot food are sold but, like at all sporting
events all over the world, are expensive and not great, so consider some kind of
picnic. No film or batteries for sale - take adequate supplies. |
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INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE - JANUARY 20th, 2000
A Proud Tradition / Sumo for Quadrupeds
On a Winter's Weekend in Turkey, The Camel Fight Is the Place to Be
By Stephen Kinzer
New York Times Service
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Selcuk, Turkey - The sporting season is under way in western Turkey, and
Hamza Akmese, oblivious to the camel saliva dripping onto his shoulders,
furtively surveyed the competition and decided he had nothing to worry about.
"My camel is strong," said Mr. Akmese, 61, who has been in the game for most of
his life. "He has a good body, good technique, and he knows how to use his front
legs for tripping. He's going to do fine today."
As Mr. Akmese spoke, a parade of brightly adorned camels, with bells on their
humps, mirrored blankets covering their backs and colorful pompoms woven into
their tails, passed slowly by.
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"Camel fighting is to us what bullfighting is to Spaniards," said Mr. Akmese as
he led his hulking beast toward the ring. "It's our tradition. It's very big,
very important."
As Turkey hurtles toward modernity and seeks to embrace a European identity,
camel fighting is a reminder that many Turks are still acutely conscious of
their Asian heritage.
It is a legacy from ancient Turkic tribes, and its steadily increasing
popularity reflects the desire of many Turks to hold on to their Asian identity
even as they turn toward Europe. The sport developed as a diversion in winter,
when cold weather made farming impossible and forced nomads down from their
mountainside pastures.
Winter also happens to be the only time camels will fight, because it is mating
season. The animals' instinct is to knock each other down to win the right to
available females.
Many of the thousands of fans who come to watch camel fights every Sunday during
the three-month season are nomads who spend summers moving among grazing areas.
The owner of a fighting camel is invariably a celebrity in his village, and when
his camel wins, he leads the whole village in celebration. Children admire him,
men defer to him, and women compete for his attention.
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The camels bear names chosen to reflect valor and fearlessness.
Among those fighting here in Selcuk, 610 kilometers (380 miles) south of
Istanbul, were Thunderbolt, Falcon, Destiny, Black Ali and Jackal.
Buses from throughout western Turkey began arriving here well before the first
fight, and by midmorning many fans had set up picnic tables around the makeshift
arena. They ate salads, kebabs and yogurt, washed down with raki, the potent
anise-flavored national drink, and discussed the virtues of the various
competitors.
"You don't see fancy high-society types at a camel fight," Omer Demir, a
lifelong fan, said as he bit into a sausage that he said was made of camel meat
but, he later admitted, was actually beef. |
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"We're the real Turkey, the real people, the backbone of this country."
It takes an experienced eye like Mr. Demir's to appreciate the finer points of
camel fighting. He can explain the judging system, the various weight classes,
the special techniques that winning camels must learn, and the importance of
having an animal with bloodlines traceable to Iran.
The subtleties of the sport, however, are not immediately visible to the
untrained eye. A fight begins with two camels, the largest of which can weigh
well over a ton, being led toward each other.
Sometimes one immediately bolts
and runs away, thereby forfeiting the match.
More often, they crash into each
other and begin a shoulder-to-shoulder pushing match that resembles an outsize
version of sumo wrestling.
For a minute or more, there is little movement as the
combatants strain against each other.
An announcer breathlessly calls the
play-by-play.
Finally, one of the animals is pushed to the ground and thereby
defeated. Each winning owner is awarded a carpet.
Fans agree that in this sport
a champion is born and not made.
Camels can be trained, but no amount of
training can make up for a weak or overly peaceful character.
Serious injuries
are rare, since camels can usually harm each other only by biting, and during
fights they are muzzled.
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When muzzles fall off or camels prove especially aggressive,
however, damage can be done.
"I don't like seeing animals fight," said Mehmet Gonca, a retired civil servant
who supplements his pension by selling snacks at public events like this one.
"Sometimes they get hurt or cut. It's not as bad as cockfighting, but I still
think it's a bit cruel."
Fighting camels do no work for nine months of the year, and in the competitive
season they fight only about a dozen times. Their owners pamper them and often
become deeply attached to them. |
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"This is a very intelligent animal," Aytekin Kaya, whose family has been
training fighting camels for more than a century, said as he prepared his
860-kilogram (1,900-pound) camel for combat. "He won't move a muscle for anyone
but me, but when I tell him what to do, he does it right away. Stand up, sit
down, lie down, follow me, turn around, go to sleep - all I have to do is say
the word, and he obeys."
Mr. Kaya said the $150 or $200 that each camel owner receives for entering a
competition does not come close to covering the costs of raising the animal and
transporting it from town to town.
"In the old days, this was a sport for everyone, but now you have to be rich,"
he said.
"As for the carpets, they're all machine-made and not so good.
"I have piles of them at home. I give them away.
"But this isn't about money or carpets. It's about keeping something alive that
was given to us by our grandfathers and great-grandfathers."
'My camel is strong. He has a good body, good technique, and he knows how to
use his front legs for tripping. He's going to do fine today.'
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