Yagli güres is the Turkish national sport . It's commonly called Turkish wrestling or oil wrestling because the wrestlers smear themselves with olive oil.
The wrestlers are called pehlivan , which means "hero" or "champion." They wear trousers (kisbet or kispet) that were originally made of water buffalo leather, but calfskin is also used nowadays.
Unlike other forms of wrestling, competitions in oil wrestling can be won by gripping the opponent's crotch in a specific way.
The goal of the pehlivan is to control his opponent by sticking an arm through the back of the kisbet. Winning in this way is called a paça kazik.
Originally, the matches had no time limit and could sometimes last one or two days. This changed in 1975, with the maximum time for matches in the baspehlivan category being 40 minutes and 30 minutes in the pehlivan category.
If there is no winner at the end of the match, a 15-minute overtime period will be held for the baspehlivan category and a 10-minute overtime period for the pehlivan category. Scores will be kept during overtime to determine a winner at the end.
The annual Kirkpinar wrestling tournament has been held in Edirne since 1362, making it the oldest continuously running sporting event in the world. In recent years, Turkish oil wrestling has gained popularity worldwide and is becoming increasingly popular in other countries, particularly the Netherlands and Japan.