Turkish champion marathon swimmer Alper Sunacoglu is intending to break a world record by swimming from Turkey to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and swim back to Turkey which is about 160 km in whopping 60 hours.
There has been a number of attempts however no one has been able to break his record. It looks like it will take a quite long time to break his record. It was a non-stop swimming without protection cage and broke a world record.
There has been a number of attempts however no one has been able to break his record. It looks like it will take a quite long time to break his record.
The distance from Anamur Mersin to Girne (Kyrenia) is 78 km and if you add the natural navigation deflections and currents the real distance comes to 90 km. His record was officially recorded by Turkish Swimming Federation and their official representative referees which were present at the time. His award was personally presented by the president of the Turkish Swimming Federation. His success was also published at the official website of Turkish Swimming Federation and their official magazine Aktuel. Following his success, he was nominated by Turkish Swimming Federation to represent Turkey at the İnternational Open Water Grand Prix and this was also published at the official channels of Turkish Swimming Federation.
In the year 2011, he swam the Bosphorus of Istanbul (which has very strong currents) from north Sarıyer to South Kız Kulesi which is 30 km in 2 hours 45 minutes where he became the first individual who made it. He made this record when his doctors stated that he can not swim due to his severe injuries and herniated discs caused by an acrobatic parachute jump. This record was also officially recorded by the Turkish Swimming Federation and published at the official website of TSF.( Please note that the swimming competition which is organised by Samsung that takes place every year east to west and it is 7 to 8 km)
In the year 2012 Mr Sunacoglu swam from one end to the other end of Dardanelles( Canakkale) where there were south-west wind and storm where he was warned and advised not to swim. The distance was 60 km in 6 hours 25 minutes solo non-stop. He rejected all warnings but he has mistaken Dardanelles (Canakkale) to small village Karacaören which was 5 km before his target.
At different dates, Mr Sunacoglu swam The Gulf of İzmit Between Urla and İzmir Between Trabzon and Giresun Van Lake Mr Sunacoglu also tried to swim from Turkey to Syria’s Lazkiye Port to protest against war and the indiscriminate killings of innocent Children and old people. His record attempt was stopped by Coast Guard and Sea police for security reasons after swimming 240 km in 125 hours to Arsuz Hatay. Alper Sunacoglu put his stamp on history by World’s Longest Distance Swimmer and Sea Survival at this record attempt. Now at this very special occasion at the year 2021, Mr Sunacoglu is intending to swim from Turkey to TRNC and back to Turkey which is 160 km in 60 hours if he can find sponsors. He is also intending to get this recorded on Guinness Book of Records. In addition to this, he is planning to swim Europe’s largest lake BALATON 80 km. And after completion, he will be running to Estergon castle. Which is further 50 km. If he can find sponsors. He is still practising on this.
Alper Sunacoglu is calling on WOWSA World Open Water Swimming Association to send a minimum of two referees and observers to record his record attempt.
He states that he swam to TRNC 2010 and broke a record. In the year 2021, he will swim to TRNC from Turkey and back. He is kindly asking WOWSA to share his press release on their website so that if there are any swimmers who want to join him at this racecourse that they are more then welcome and that they can reach him via WOWSA. He says “Sport is all about friendship and brotherhood at the end of the day and I am ready to share this success” He is sending his greetings and Love. He will pass his press release and application via his coaches. In short, it looks like Alper will not lose his championship crown for some time. (Aktürk Ajans)
Alper Sunaçoğlu, The World Champion Turkish swimmer recently declared that he would like to swim from Izmir to Athens, run and cycle from Athens To Thessalonica in order to contribute to World peace. Unfortunately Sunaçoğlu didn’t receive the support that he expected from the Swimming Federation in Turkey until recently however there has been positive developments recently and swimming federation in Turkey asked Alper kindly to move forward altogether with the issues that they had in the past and asked Alper to resolve the issues that they had in an amicable way. The recent move of Swimming Federation came as a surprise to many, as the representative of swimming Federation of Turkey contacted Mr Sunacoglu to show their good intentions however Sunaçoğlu has more challenges as he didn’t receive the support from any sponsors in Turkey that he expected so he will now focus to look for sponsors globally for this world record. He is now in the process of asking the global community to help him to facilitate suitable sponsors so that he can break the world record as well as contributing to the world peace.
TOLGA CAKIR
*Alper is a Turkish open water swimmer and member of the 24-hour club with his 78 km (48.4 miles) marathon swim from Turkey to the island of Cyprus on 4 September 2010 in 26 hours 15 minutes. He broke the previous record of 43 hours 20 minutes set in 1973 by Ersin Aydin, an Honour Swimmer of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
Sunaçoğlu has also done a 30 km swim in the Bosphorus (Istanbul) on 23 April 2011 and a 60 km swim in the Dardanelles on 29 October 2012.
Champion Of Champions, Marathon Swimmer Alper Sunacoglu
The World renowned Champion of Champions marathon swimmer Alper Sunacoglu is known to many in the swimming sports World. Unlike in any other country, or their swimmer would face, Alper is facing though challenges from Swimming Federation of Turkey, his national swimming federation.
The World renowned Champion of Champions marathon swimmer Alper Sunacoglu stated not only that he do not get support from the Turkish Swimming Federation for his 460 km. new world record attempt between Izmir(Turkey) and Athens(Greece), furthermore he is now subjected to obstruction and facing life threats from the swimming federation.
The world famous swimmer Alper Sunacoglu who is known to give social messages with his world records, intend to be at Ataturk’s house in Selanik (Thessalonica) by swimming from Izmir To Athens on 19th of May.
Due to changes in the Criminal Enforcement Directive, the swimming federation of Turkey is currently under investigation. According to the views of experts who has determined the damage in the first place was $ 3 million, they now indicate that it may not even be possible to estimate the total loss emerged due to the directors and committee members illegal use of the funds that have been under their control up until now.
According to investigations the federation only allowed three fixed companies namely Nira, Ultra, and Ceo which always illegally came to an agreement on purchase materials, promotions, tournaments, transportation, and accommodation as well as hundreds of other irregularities in the tenders.
Alper is kindly asking help from the officials of Turkey and Greece to support his world record for the 19th of May, so that he can move forward so that he can contribute to World Peace.
Alper Sunaçoğlu who is known for his records in swimming and performance sports swam 280 km in 125 hours with no security closely protecting or escorting him in the Mediterranean Sea.
Alper is a Turkish open water swimmer and member of the 24-hour club with his 78 km (48.4 miles) marathon swim from Turkey to the island of Cyprus on 4 September 2010 in 26 hours 15 minutes. He broke the previous record of 43 hours 20 minutes set in 1973 by Ersin Aydin, an Honour Swimmer of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
Sunaçoğlu has also done a 30 km swim in the Bosphorus (Istanbul) on 23 April 2011 and a 60 km swim in the Dardanelles on 29 October 2012.
In his journey to world record he only had electronic GPS to plan his route, food to last him 5 days and first aid medicine for emergencies with him.
The purpose and the category of the record were to swim and survive in open seas without a boat. He also mentioned that the American swimmer Diana Nyad swam 177 km in 52 hours whereas he swam 280 km 125 hours. A world record dedicated to world children
Alper stated that he would like to dedicate his world record for the world children that are being killed especially for those in Gaza and Syria.
Seas must be protected
On the other hand he stated that he ate a banana and kept the skin with him in order to keep environment clean even do it was a weight which he had to carry with him while he was swimming for the world record. He also wanted share this message with everyone that he will be grateful if everyone had the similar sensitivity to keep and protect our seas and Mediterranean Sea clean so that they can enjoy their safe and clean swim.
Finally Alper Sunacoglu stated that he enjoyed his swim in the good weather and missed sleeping.
Alper Sunaçoğlu who is known for his records in swimming and performance sports will swim in Mediterranean on 30th of August 2013 and will start swimming from Samandağ Hatay for the respect to the basic fundamental rights, freedoms and to say no to war, death and captivity.
In the past Alper SUNAÇOĞLU swam the distance of 78 km from Mersin to Cyprus without using safety cage and broke the world record with a whopping short limit of time 26 hours 15 minutes.
On 23th of April 2011 Mr. Sunaçoğlu swam across Istanbul Bosphorus at full length in 2 hours 25 minutes and after that on 29th of October 2012 and last year, the marathon swimmer again broke a new world record in Dardenelles in 7 hours 12 minutes .
Furthermore our sportsman greeted the Mavi Marmara at the offshores of Marmara Sea and escorted the Mavi Marmara flotilla until it reached the offshores of Sarayburnu in order to protest the brutality of Israel and to call for attention to the inhumanities that take place in Gazze, Palestine.
After all Alper wanted to swim from Port Said of Egypt to Gazze but this was cancelled with the official written order of Ministry of Foreign Affairs for security reasons due to the civil riots in Egypt that erupted at the time.
On 30 th of August 2013 the activist sportsman Mr. Sunaçoğlu and his friend Bedirhan Karabağ will start swimming from the coast of Antakya to the Syria where there is a war and deaths. . Sunaçoğlu will swim to Syria in order to give peace message and will say no to the cruelty, death, captivity, torture and to call for attention for the peace and for the respect to basic fundamental rights and freedoms at Mediterranean Sea which is a sea of Muslims.
Lets pay attention to what Alper Sunaçoğlu has to say about this extraordinary project.
Tolga: Firstly I would to thank you that you that you have kindly spared your time to us in your busy schedule.
When did you start swimming and become a long-distance swimmer? When you swim don’t you ever get bored or scared?
SUNAÇOĞLU: I have been swimming since I have known myself. I feel that I am a part of the sea while swimming and it’s like a kind of worship.
You are on your own and with the God in an unguarded environment and the only option you have is to trust God who will arrange things for the best.
In order to understand what I really mean you have to try what I do. Just swim 500 metres from the coast and wait.. No one can see and hear you.. You are alone.. There is only God, you and sea.. Moreover the host of the sea and the living creatures of course.
Tolga: One day I will definately try 🙂
On the recent headlines you were about to swim the English Channel. Why is this cancelled? It is heard that you refused the sponsorship of the Governorship fo Istanbul. Could you give us more detailed information relating to this event to enlighten your followers and our readers?
SUNAÇOĞLU: My project was to swim across the English Channel which is 36 km course and known for its extreme currents and freezing water temperatures in less than 7 hours to break the world record however I have postponed this due to the problems that the Turkey face as well as private private reasons. Now my aim is to break the world record in 2014. As part of the sponsorship we agreed in principle with governorship however after the Gezi Park protests I thougt that it will make sense, more logical and better to postpone this to the next year.
Tolga: Don’t you ever get afraid of sharks in the sea? Have you ever seen them before? Especially Mediterranean Sea seems to be very risky. What do you think?
SUNAÇOĞLU: I can’t say I am not afraid but I know how to control my fear. I have seen them before and I know I will see them in the future. But there were no threat or attack so far and I certainly hope there won’t 🙂
Tolga: Recently you made a protest under the name of Yüzen Adam. You and Bedirhan Karadağ swam across 30 km sourroundings of Büyük Ada together with the support of Gürsel Tekin and some members of parliament. And now the last stop of the protest is Antakya, is there any speacial reason to end this protest up in Antakya? What is the rela reason behind the attempt of swimming across from Antakya to Syria? What is the real aim of this protest?
SUNAÇOĞLU: I would like a world which shows respect to fundamental rights and freedoms. I accept mankind as it is no matter for me what language, religion and ethnic origin they have. I do not want a war, blood, death, violence and empire of fear. As the prime minister Tayyip Erdoğan said, ” There might be foreign powers influences or some monkey business” but once for all there is unrest, war, fear in Middle East and Muslim Sea of Mediterranean Sea. I protest the Muslims’ killing of each other. I am not the man of someone, some power or serve anyone. I am not the supporter of any political party and I don’t earn any money, on the contrary I have faced many loses materially and spiritually. I only use my individusl democratic rights for action. I hope that this works and I can contribute and lead to form common sense in this region of the world. This is my unique aim. In short they say”A good deed is its own reward”.
My aim is to support peace and brotherhood of mankind. And if the conditions are convenient I would like to go the place where Turkish aircraft crashed and stand at attention in order to show respect by raising the Turkish flag. I hope that God allows me for this so that I can achieve this and return home to Turkey safe and sound.
Tolga: Who will you meet you at Syria ashore? What is your message to Syria?
SUNAÇOĞLU: There is nothing clear about it and it is not important who will meet me however it is sufficient enough for me that this someone is a human being as I will be there as an activist with a peace message to declare to the whole world. My message is unifier not seperatist “I want respect to right to life. As a member of Turkish Republic and as a part od nation which destroyed many of its enemies in wars along in its long history, I will make a cross-border marathon swimming without guns and defence. I believe that my message will be effective enough against foreign powers or some monkey business in World. My message and philosophy is this “Turks are neither afraid of war nor peace”
Tolga: As we can see and understand you are determined exactly just like before you swam to Cyprus, I can see the same courage and determination in your eyes. I hope that everything you wish will happen and you raise full awareness on behalf of peace and brotherhood. Good luck YÜZEN ADAM…
SUNAÇOĞLU: I would to kindly thank you for giving me a chance to share my protest with public opinion and thank you for your sensitivity. Let’s hope for the best for Turkey and World. I would like to take this opportunity to say happy Eid to Turkish People and local communities by hoping that this leads to brotherhood, peace, prosperity and unity wordwide.
THE MAN WHO SWAM ACROSS FROM TURKEY TO CYPRUS IS NOW READY FOR ENGLISH CHANNEL!
Alper Sunacoglu is a sportsman who will make a big splash and will be talked about alot in the sports community around the world soon. He is a legend of his country.
Erdal Acet, who is one of the trainers of Alper, was the man who broke the world record by swimming across English Channel with a record of 9 hours 2 minutes. Since his childhood, Alper who is a committed follower of Erdal Acet, now going to England to show his respect to his trainer and he is also determined to break the world record of Mr. Trent Grimsey, who also broke the record world record as well as Alper’s trainer Erdal’s record .
Now let’s have a look at what Alper has got to share with us 🙂
Who is Alper ? Alper is one of the most famous national swimmers of Turkey who swam the distance of 78 km from Anamur, from Turkey to Cyprus in smashing 26 hours 15 minutes and moreover he did not use the safety cage. He broke this world record by swimming in a perfect high speed on 4th of September 2010. On 23th of April, 2011 He also swam across Istanbul Bosporus top to buttom from Sarıyer to Üsküdar, a distance of 30 km in 2 hours 25 minutes. After all that he swam perpendicular Dardanel Bosporus from one end to another in 7 hours 12 minutes by ignoring the south wind storm blowing at 8 force. Related with above mentioned successes, he had many interviews, commentated on news both nationally and internationally. His records were also confirmed and announced by Wikipedia to all over the world. The record holder swimmer, Alper now has a target to break a world record by swimming English Channel in 6 hours 45 minutes. If he achieves this, he will gain the title of fastest marathon swimmer in the world, then again this will enable him to secure the world record on behalf of Turkey and Turks.
Here is the Exclusive interview with world famous swimmer, Alper Sunacoglu.
EDITOR: Could you please tell us little bit about yourself?
ALPER: Thank you. I was born in Istanbul and originally I’m an Albanian. When I was about five years old when we immigrated to Adana because of my father’s business. My father and my mother is from Istanbul, I’m from Adana due to the simple fact that I lived all my childhood there. J Currently I’m working in a corporate logistics company as a project manager/ coordinator, A degree certified customs broker and work as a consultant.
EDITOR:You undersigned records which requires significant performance and courage. To swim from Mersin to Cyprus in 26 hours, to swim the straits from the whole length even in the winter season, I mean all of these successes and records do not seem logically possible to many people around the world. I would like you to share with us your journey, your adventure starting from your childhood. How was Alper’s childhood? How was his youth? Why and how come you broke all this world records and accomplishments years after years ? We kindly appreciate If you could tell us all these processes.
ALPER: I had a very naughty childhood and youth with full of troubles which caused lots of complaints from our neighbors. One day I was at top of a roof with a cap, toy pistol and slingshot in my hands, another day I was on top of trees and sometimes even had a fight with gangs. Once upon a time, as far as I can remember I climbed on a pine tree and could not get down and had to wait for the fire brigade to come and rescue me. As you can clearly see, I had a childhood full of adventures. I learned and started to swim when I was five year old. I tried variety of sports such as karate, taekwondo, judo, handball, basketball. However due to my fickleness I did not continue all of these sports. Now as it stands, only pentathlon and swimming is an indispensable part of my sport life. I will still perform these two sports until my health, breath and my power enables me to do so. My grandfather had a major effect in my life and he always said that ‘ Your blood and soul is coming from Ottoman Empire and you are a core grandchild of the daughter of Magnificent Suleyman and Sokullu Mehmed Pasha and your forefathers are the people of that you should really feel full proud of ‘I think that those words were so powerful words which effected my unconscious mind’. I have also listened many of these narratives with a big pleasure J . My grades at school were not very good however I was more interested with history lessons. I thought that our forefathers ride on horses to many distant places, conquered so many countries and came back again by travelling over hundreds even thousands of kilometers. This meant to me that, humankind can walk, run and can even swim these distances if they really wish. Thus, this is how my idea of marathon swimming started. My courage comes from my genetic code and my success comes from the faith of the following sentence. ‘If mankind really and honestly wants to walk, run and swim those distances then this can be achieved.’ I’m also a little bit lucky because most of the famous marathon swimmers are from Adana and I had the chance to be inspired by those swimmers. I listened, watched them and prepared myself to do the best. Sanrı Kardesler who is the famous for the contribution to Adana swimming sports and the deceased swimmer Ayhan Karatas had a big efforts on me . In this regard, once more I want to express my gratitude to them.
EDITOR : Don’t you get bored and get hungry at sea over many hours of swimming and are you not really afraid of sharks? Did you ever face any dangerous circumstances at sea?
ALPER: Of course I did, while I was swimming long distances, I got bored , it is hard sometimes, I had a terrible headaches, sometimes toothache and sometimes I became semi conscious. So, you have different stages, the sportsmen who swim marathon know that after you swim three hours, you face up different stages both in your body and in your mind. If you have decayed tooth , first this starts to ache then headache starts and after that semi conscious and insobriety takes place. If you can not concentrate well enough then you will be defeated to the water and give up the marathon. However, I visit the place of where I will dive into the water and prepare my unconscious mind to the marathon by saying myself that ‘ I will enter to the water from this place and will rise across the seaside’ Unless any unexpected weather conditions occur or totally unexpected accident occurs, I never think to return back or dismiss the trial of record. You asked me whether if I get hungry at sea, and of course, I get hungry, there is a boat and team members that escorts me and my trainers calculate at what time I need to eat, they throw me liquid food bottle to the sea accordingly. When it comes to sharks they are the ruler of sea, so I am afraid of them and they are also stronger than me in the sea. But I never come up against such a life threatening danger up to now except some minor incidents.
EDITOR: Have you got any sponsorship?
ALPER: I had a lots of sponsorship up until now. Adana City Council, IHH Charitable Foundation of Humankind aid, Sisli Council and Mayor of Sisli – Mr. Mustafa Sarı Gul , Ünsped Gümrük Müşavirliği A.S – customs broker company and precious businessman Yusuf Bulut ÖZTÜRK are my sponsors from time to time.
EDITOR: So, what are your new projects that are coming soon?
ALPER: The first project is to swim across the English Channel in less than 7 hours and break the world record. Now the last world record on this belongs to Mr. Trent Grimsey.
Secondly, swimming Naples -Capri Marathon in Italy and swimming across from Izmir to Athens are my latest upcoming projects.
EDITOR: You were on headline news on many occasions but why are you not as famous as you could imagine expected from a person at your caliber?
ALPER: I have only tried to keep everything to myself, all trial of records, projects and I did not intend to become famous up to this date. I have never had focus on and an aim or dream to be famously recognized. Actually to become famous in Turkey is very simple fact if you are on news related to your private life with a model or with a girl who is famous, then you are on, now you’re famous. But this does not suit me, my style and I do not prefer this kind of life. On any given day, if people of my country would know me, I prefer to be remembered by what I have done, with my achievements, successes and my records. And as such all news about myself has been done by valuable media members like yourselves by investigating the real truth of the news in the world by providing access me with an interview. To summarize it all, I have the opinion that if a decent media group supports me that is more than enough for me.
EDİTÖR: A personal question comes to you. Is there a time for love in this busy life. You are a healthy person and why are you not married ?
ALPER: As you say I’m really busy. I always live in a rush between business life and sports life. I can not spare a time to my private life as much as I want. So the relationship is really difficult for me and even more difficult for the other side. In addition to that, I also got married and got divorced when I was very young. At least unless I fulfill my upcoming projects, I do not consider about marriage as for now. But still it is all about destiny in the end.
EDITOR : Why don’t you have a support from government authorities although you have a good relationship with them and sincere photos with a lot of political leaders? Is this related with the social messages that you give?
ALPER: Yes, actually your question has got the answer in it. Unfortunately, I could not get any support of government administration. If they have supported me, I would like to swim from Egypt to Gaza and protest the embargo. If they support me, I can represent my country at open water races hold in different countries. Maybe Turkey is the only country which do not participate in these races. Myself and Swimming Federation delivered our messages about this issue on several occasions to the related ministry but we could not get any reply at all.
EDITOR:You wanted to swim to Imrali Island by jumping from Istanbul Bosphorus Bridge and wanted to give a message that Single State, Single Flag and Single Nation aiming to curse of the terrorism. Even Ayşe Arman – journalist had mentioned about you and many discussions have taken place in the public. Is this project on stand still? Are you really going to jump from the Istanbul Bosporus Bridge?
ALPER: Let me ask you. Do you think, is it really necessary to give this message and make this attempt when you think about the position of Turkey now. As of now, there is no terror so I do not need to curse it 🙂 anymore. In the end, to swim to Imrali is cancelled, I won’t swim. But in coming days may be I can jump from the Bosporus Bridge to give a different message. You will also hear from me for sure 🙂
EDITOR: You’re recognized by your support to disabled children and children with down syndrome. Do you have a plan or dream for them ?
ALPER : I like children and especially girls. Disabled children or children with a down syndrome is very special for me. My biggest dream is to build an Olympic pool and activity rooms for them if I have the suitable support and financial back up accordingly.
EDITOR: Let’s say “Insallah”. I hope that someone sensitive could hear your message so that they could support you to enable yourselves to break the world records and help you to realize your dreams. I hereby wish you a real success and may I also take this opportunity thank you for your sincere answers to the questions which included your personal life.
