Oil wrestling contest returns in Turkey after COVID hiatus

Turkish wrestling fans head to Edirne province for 600-year-old championship cancelled last year due to COVID.

After a year-long, pandemic-induced hiatus, the sounds of the zurna flute and beating drums again greeted thousands of Turkish wrestling fans who returned to the country’s northwest for a 600-year-old oil wrestling championship. Last year’s contest was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. But spectators headed in droves to Edirne province on the Greek border over the weekend to watch a sport that dates to the 14th century. Over three days, competitors clad in leather trousers known as “‘kispet” and liberally doused in olive oil struggled to earn the title of Baspehlivani, or chief wrestler, the sport’s equivalent of world champion.