17.07.2026 16:10
Greece, which has adopted baklava, kebab, döner, cacık, Turkish coffee, and Turkish tea, has now also adopted oil wrestling, our ancestral sport. 'Pachlivanis' competitions were held in the village of Sohos, Greece.
After baklava, kebab, döner, cacık, Turkish coffee, and Turkish tea, Greece has now set its sights on our centuries-old ancestral sport of oil wrestling.
GREECE HAS NOW COPIED OIL WRESTLING
A festival was organized in the village of Sohos near Thessaloniki, replicating the traditional Turkish oil wrestling rituals exactly. In the competitions called "Pachlivanis," wrestlers entered the field with olive oil, accompanied by drums and zurna, just like in Kırkpınar.
IMAGES SPARK OUTRAGE
The appropriation of this deep-rooted tradition, which is on Turkey's UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, by Greece has sparked major backlash in the Turkish sports community and on social media. This move against our cultural heritage raises the question: "After gastronomy, has it come to the wrestling arena?"