8 - 10 September, 2023
Two women on the sidelines watching two wrestlers duel. 671. Elmalı Oil Wrestling Festival, Türkiye on 8 September 2023.
Oil wrestling. It's recognised as Türkiye's national sport and it's deemed to be an ancestral sport in the country. It's a sport where wrestlers from different disciplines of wrestling converge on a grassy field. They poor olive oil all over themselves. And they do battle on grassy fields in front of spectators and supporters from all over the country.
I had never been to an oil wrestling festival before and I did not know what to expect. Little did I know that shortly after arriving in Elmalı I would be pulled into a narrative involving wrestling tales, a political election and a families' soap opera-esque struggle to maintain their influence and status in the town.
Typical street scene in Elmalı, Türkiye on 8 September 2023.
Inside a traditional Turkish restaurant situated along the town's main boulevard. Elmalı, Türkiye on 8 September 2023.
Elmalı
An hour and half's drive west of Antalya with a population of approximately 40,000, you will find Elmalı. Situated in a small plateau at the head of an upland valley, Elmalı's name literally translates to apple-town and keeping with it's name sake, Elmalı produces roughly 14% of Türkiye's apples. Apple's aren't the only thing this small town is known for. Elmalı is home to the oldest oil wrestling festival in Türkiye. It dates back to 1352 during the time of the Ottoman Empire and oil wrestling itself can be traced back to ancient Sumer and Babylon according to some historians.
Like most small towns in Central Anatolia, the youth in Elmalı have left town for education and job opportunities in larger cities leaving behind a mostly ageing population. This void leaves the town feeling sleepy and uneventful for most of the year. But the town livens up when the oil wrestling season begins. According to people I spoke to at the event and cab drivers, the town's population triples for the weekend of the oil wrestling festival. It's very common to see wrestlers strolling through town or enjoying çay with their entourage of trainers, friends and family. Traders from around the nation also come to the town to capitalise, reigning in from as far as Izmir to sell their wares at night markets along the backstreets parallel to the main boulevard. One restaurant owner told me he usually makes half his yearly income just from the oil wrestling festival alone.
Farmers selling their produce by a bus stop on the main boulevard with temporary accommodation in the background. Elmalı, Türkiye on 9 September 2023.
Accommodation becomes sparse during this period, some families sleep in tents within parks near the wrestling square, only being able to afford the fuel cost to get their child to the event. Young competitors affiliated with wrestling teams often sleep in 20-30 bed dorms, I use the word dorm very loosely as I caught a glimpse of the real situation from a young competitors Instagram story. A couple mattresses laid about in a school's gym or town hall are deemed to be the ample amount of creature comforts needed for these brave young competitors.
Luckily I managed to book my accommodation 3 months in advance staying with an Airbnb host. Although it was much more comfortable, it did come with it's own quirks and pulled me into what felt like a Turkish TV drama story unfolding before my very eyes.