Tag: Edirne

Edirne, the “diamond that has not been shaped”
Edirne, Turkish attraction
- Image Credit: Jumana Al Tamimi/Gulf News
- Sami Al Jallaf, Director of Commercial Affairs at Ajman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (second from left) during his talks with Turkish officials in Edirne. Al Janahi is the on the right.
Dubai: Most tourists seek sun and sand but in the western Turkish city of Edirne they come to see a mosque and wrestling.

Edirne, which was for nearly 100 years the capital of the Ottoman Empire, prides itself of its monuments and rich history – two aspects the city’s mayor is leveraging to market Edirne to the world.

“In 2011, approximately two million tourists visited Edirne and this year we are hoping to receive 3 million,” said Hamdi Sedefçi, mayor of Edirne.

The city is looking to build on its reputation as the host of an annual wrestling match called Kirkpinar, considered one of the oldest continuously practiced sport in the region, and a 16th century mosque. The city’s officials hope to attract foreign investment to revamp its hospitality and services sectors, and dress its promenade with shopping and recreation centres.

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Up to 33 million tourists are expected to visit Turkey this year, according to Turkish culture and tourism minister Ertuğrul Günay. Revenues from travel and tourism contributed TL55.1 billion in 2011, or 4.3 per cent of GDP, according to London-based World Travel and Tourism Council. The figures are expected to increase by 1.7 per cent in 2012 and by 2.9 per cent a year from 2012 to 2022 to TL74.4bn, the council said.

As per Ankara’s Culture and Tourism Ministry 2007 forecast, Tourism Strategy of Turkey-2023 is expected to generate US$ 86 million in international tourism receipt from 63 million travellers by 2023.

Edirne, located 225 kilometres from Istanbul, is hoping for a piece of the pie.

The tourist footfall to the town increased after Selimiye Mosque and its complex was added to the UNESCO’s world heritage list last year.

Kirkpinar, a Turkish sport that can be traced back to the 14th century, has its roots in Edirne. It was added to the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the UNESCO as well.

“Edirne is rich in cultural and heritage tourism, and I think this is the reason why tourists come,” Sedefçi told Gulf News through an interpreter.

This year, Edirne started receiving tourists from as far as Japan, he said.

Apart from its Ottoman memorials, the city, which is located near the Bulgarian and Greek borders, also has Byzantine ruins and ancient churches, and houses a synagogue and some Baha’ houses.

The Selimiye Mosque, which was commissioned by Sultan Selim II, was built by famous Turkish architect Mimar Sinan in the 16th century. The structure is considered Sinan’s masterpiece. It is also described as one of the best achievements of Islamic architecture.

The annual three-day Kirkpinar tournament attracts thousands of people. Some of them come from the neighbouring countries such as Bulgaria and Greece as well as other parts of the Turkey.

The UNESCO’s citation said the wrestling festival “is strongly rooted in the practitioner community as a symbol of identity … and [reinforces] members’ bonds with tradition and custom.”

In one of the traditions of Kirkpinar, the winner has to walk barefoot some 1.5 km to a Turkish bath in the city for free treatment. The winner for three consecutive years gets to keep a golden belt he wins.

This year’s winner, who comes from a well-known wrestling family from Antalya, hopes to keep the belt in memory of his father, a wrestler who died of brain illness, according to some Turkish spectators from the city.

However, most of the tourists here stay hardly for a day.

Out of the two million visitors, “261,487 tourists stayed overnight at its hotels,” said Metin Kilic the Turkish foreign ministry’s representative in Edirne said.

“Greek, Bulgarian and other Europeans as well as Far Eastern nationals dominate the visitors,” he said. The city attracts tourists during the period between April and mid July.

The general short-term stay of tourists explains the spread of great restaurants in the city, including on the sides of its rivers, offering delicious dishes from the Turkish cuisine. But on the other hand, there are just 20 hotels, the vast majority of them are boutique hotels, or small hotels – and the highest rank of these hotels are three stars. The city is open to Turkish and foreign investments, mostly in hospitality and service sectors, Sedefçi said.

Foreign investors, however, first need to identify Turkish partners and establish a company.

“Edirne is a diamond that has not been shaped yet; we want it to be shaped, and we need sculptures,” he said.

The mayor of the city for nearly 19 years, Sedefçi has his plans.

One of them is to build a tower in Turkey, overlooking both Bulgaria and Greece. The 100 million Euro or US$ 121 million structure would be a symbol for “friendship like Selimiye mosque is a symbol to the Ottoman Empire”, he said.

Other projects include shopping centers and recreation areas along the sides of the rivers in the city, where the bridges from the Ottoman era still stand as symbols of the rich history of the city.

On the impact of development on the green and clean environment of the city, Sedefçi said he also cares about environment and will never allow any damage to it.

“I love nature very much and I care about it,” he said. “Once some from the public called me Mr. Flower, because I love nature and love flower.”

“In Turkey, there are 7 square meters of green per person; in Edirne, the green area is 20 square meters per person,” he said, adding he won’t allow chemical factories to be built in the city.

The city, which prides itself on its safety and low crime rates, is expected to be benefit from a fast train to Istanbul by 2018. Today, buses take nearly 2 and half hours to connect Edirne with the busiest Turkish cities.

“Turkey is a big country; it has 581 cities,” said Gokhan Sozer, who is the local governor of Edirne. “Each city has different characteristics, and we call this richness, not differences,” he told Gulf News.

“The importance of Edirne is both cultural and in its monuments.”
August 5, 2012
Trade to Europe delays due to border gate queue

EDIRNE – Anatolia News Agency

Turkey’s trade to Europe has slowed down due to fewer border gate officials working on the Bulgarian border gate as a long queue of trucks spends days to pass the border from Turkey to European markets.

Nearly 700 trucks formed a queue of 7 km on Turkey’s Bulgarian border, according to border gate officials, Anatolia news agency reported. Bulgarian officials decreased the number of shifts on the Bulgarian border gate, which slowed traffic between Turkey and Europe, said Turkish border gate officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“We waited for almost two days in Halkalı district of Istanbul and now have been waiting for another two days by the border gate,” said Mustafa Güdücü, a Turkish truck driver. Transporting automotive spare parts from Turkey’s northern province of Düzce to Germany, Güdücü said, “Due to traffic juncture it took us 30 hours from Istanbul to the border gate.”

”I have not slept for nearly 24 hours and all our desire is to pass the border gate,” truck driver Ali Çelikbaş said.

Fazlı Şisa, the driver of a loaded truck, said: “We are celebrating a sad Feast of the Sacrifice as we are not with our families, but waiting here for days.”

Long waits in border gate increase transportation costs

Long queues at the border gates of the country increased transportation costs and caused delays in the deliveries of export materials, Engin Özmen, chairman of the Association of International Transporters (UND) said yesterday.

In Halkalı and Erenköy customs houses, Turkish exporters are having serious problems, Özmen said. “Long queues of trucks and cars waiting for many hours increase transportation costs and prevent products from reaching destinations on time.”

Özmen said the Turkish government should regulate the borders in a more efficient way as the recent cases demonstrate that two customs houses in Istanbul have already exceeded their capacities. Lack of efficiency in customs houses causes slower deliveries of orders, Özmen said.

via Trade to Europe delays due to border gate queue – Hurriyet Daily News.

November 7, 2011
How Do You Dress a Turkish Wrestler? In Olive Oil and Leather Britches

Old Sport’s New Rules Are Too Slick to Some; ‘You Have to Know How to Grab the Kispet’

EDIRNE, Turkey—Turkish oil wrestling is all about the leather britches.

For three days this weekend, some 1,500 men—from 11-year-old striplings to improbably muscled Goliaths—donned long, thick, black pants made of water-buffalo and cowhide. Then, they doused themselves in olive oil from head to toe and strode into a grassy gladiatorial arena.

It’s the annual Kirkpinar oil-wrestling tournament, which has been staged here for 650 years. To the uninitiated, it seems little more than an open field of oily mayhem. Not so to the appreciative crowd, which roars with excitement at sudden throws or clever holds—”belly sees the sky” being a particular winner—as executed by their oil-wrestling favorites.

“Oh my, I feel like I’ll die of my excitement…the sweat-stained grass smells of oil,” says the Kirkpinar anthem, sung in the procession to open the tournament. In the past, bouts between two men could last for hours and continue the next day.

This year, however, a new fight has come to a head: Traditionalists are furious because a points system has been imposed that is designed to shorten matches. It’s a slippery slope, oil-wrestling traditionalists say.

“It’s in the founding spirit of the Kirkpinar that you [fight] until the end,” says Ahmet Tasci, a legend of the sport who has claimed the Kirkpinar title nine times. His statue stands outside the wrestling grounds. “Can there be anything greater than a history of 650 years?” Mr. Tasci asks. “Can we change the rules? We don’t have the right.”

Seyfettin Selim sees things differently. He prefers an absolute time limit. When Turkey’s president, Abdullah Gul, came to the event, “he got bored because the bouts took so long,” says Mr. Selim, smoking a fat cigar in the grandstand. A spokesman for the president couldn’t be reached Sunday.

Mr. Selim is a big fan of Kirkpinar. But he’s more than that. On Sunday, he paid around $140,000 to buy a ram in a symbolic auction that gave him the title of Aga, or Lord, of the next Kirkpinar. It’s the fourth time he has bought the sheep, giving him the right to co-host the entire event again next year, and also wear the traditional Ottoman Aga costume of brocaded jacket, cummerbund and colorful fez hat.

Kirkpinar isn’t like the wrestling at the Olympics or on the U.S. professional circuit. There’s no mat; there are no ropes. There is, however, a 40-piece Ottoman-style drum band pounding away, all day long, in the arena.

The arena itself is a grassy field about an acre in size dubbed the Field of the Brave. Matches take place simultaneously. Pairs of oil-covered wrestlers square off into the distance.

Referees watch every move. When a match finishes, a new group takes its place. The fighters swing their arms in a ritual swagger, and stoop together in a prayer-like motion. After three days the grass is slick underfoot.

And then there are the britches, known as kispet. Because the oil makes it so tough to grip an opponent, wrestlers try to stick their hands inside each other’s kispet to gain leverage and to grab hold of the cuffs below the knees. To make it harder for opponents to grip their kispet, wrestlers pour oil inside and out.

“You have to know how to grab the kispet,” said Mehmet Yesilyesil, who won the Kirkpinar for the past two years. In 2006 he was also European champion and world bronze medalist in non-oily, Olympic-style wrestling.

Mr. Yesilyesil brings his own olive oil to the Kirkpinar, “extra virgin pressed,” he says. This year it didn’t help him. He was knocked out before the finals.

The core rules are simple—”No punching, hitting, biting or wounding.” If you pin your opponent, or bind him with the “belly sees the sky” move (opponent on back, belly facing upward), you win.

If your opponent manages to successfully perform a move called paca kazik, or “fool’s cuff,” you lose. That’s when your pants get pulled down or torn.

The roots of oil wrestling go deep into ancient Persian, Greek and possibly Egyptian history, according to historical accounts. But the Turks have made the sport their own.

The story goes that in the mid-14th century, an Ottoman commander kept his troops busy during lulls in battle by having them oil wrestle. Legend tells of one particularly gruelling match between two brothers who were so evenly matched that they wrestled for two days, before dying of exhaustion.

As recently as 20 years ago bouts at Kirkpinar still could go on for three or four hours, and if evening fell they would continue the next day. The new points system stipulates that wrestlers wrestle for 30 minutes, and then can win on points in 15 minutes of overtime, or thereafter on a so-called “golden point,” when the first to score, wins. Critics say it makes the wrestlers cautious and lazy, because they know they can win on points if they can make it through the first half-hour.

Bekir Ceker, President of the Turkish Wrestling Federation, promises a rule change for next year that he says will address some of the complaints. But he said points and limits are necessary because there are simply too many contestants. Lack of time limits would mean the tournament could drag on for five or six days, he said.

As this year’s three-day tournament progressed, the fighters, as familiar to the crowd as home-team NFL quarterbacks, began to thin out. When one of the semi-finalists seemed to be trapped on the ground—but then suddenly flipped his opponent in the air so his “belly sees the sky”—the crowd went nuts.

By Saturday, Mr. Yesilyesil was eliminated, which meant he missed the chanced to keep the champion’s 14-carat gold belt by winning three times. His challenger from last year’s two-hour-long championship match, Recep Kara, did manage to slip into this year’s final bout. But in the end, another wrestler, Ali Gurbuz, claimed the title in the 650th annual Kirkpinar oil-wrestling tournament. He won on points.

The Wall Street Journal

July 13, 2011
UNESCO accepts Mimar Sinan’s Mosque in Edirne for new list

The mosque was considered by Sinan to be his masterpiece and is one of the highest achievements of Islamic architecture.

One of the greatest works of the Ottoman architect Sinan is now set to become a UNESCO world heritage site.

The Selimiye Mosque, an Ottoman mosque in the northwestern province of Edirne, was commissioned by Sultan Selim II and built by Sinan between 1568 and 1574, will be the second Turkish mosque to enter the list after the Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği.

The mosque was considered by Sinan to be his masterpiece and is one of the highest achievements of Islamic architecture.

UNESCO will reveal a new list on June 19.

Selimiye Mosque stands at the center of a külliye (a complex consisting of a hospital, school, library and/or baths around a mosque) that comprises a madrassa, a dar-ül hadis (hadith school), a timekeeper’s room and an arasta (row of shops). For the mosque, Sinan employed an octagonal support system that was created through eight pillars cut into the walls. The four semi-domes at the corners of the square behind the arches that spring from the pillars are intermediary sections between the huge encompassing dome and the walls.

While conventional mosques were limited by a segmented interior, Sinan’s effort at Edirne was a structure that made it possible to see the mihrab from any location within the mosque.

Hürriyet Daily News

June 3, 2011
Austria-Türkiye motorail train services began

Motorail train services started between Villach city of Austria and the northwestern province of Edirne, Türkiye. According to Hurriyet newspaper, the train carrying 80 cars and 150 passengers departed from Villach on April 19 and expected to arrive in Edirne soon. The journey is 1450 km and takes 28 hours.

The cost is around 395 euro one-way for a car plus one person in a shared 6-berth couchette compartment.

Tolga Çakır

April 21, 2011
Three Turkish Traditions On UNESCO List Of World Cultural Heritage

Three more Turkish traditions were added to UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage.

“Kirkpinar oil wrestling festival”, “Semah, Alevi-Bektasi ritual” and “traditional sohbet meetings” are among the 46 elements inscribed Tuesday on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Kirkpinar oil wrestling festival takes place in Edirne, Turkey where thousands of people from different age groups, cultures and regions travel every year to see wrestlers (pehlivan) fight for the Kirkpinar Golden Belt and the title of Chief Pehlivan.

Semah can be described as a set of mystical and aesthetic body movements in rhythmic harmony. Semah constitutes one of the twelve main services found in Cem rituals, religious practices performed by adherents of Alevi-Bektasi, a belief system based on admiration for Ali, the fourth caliph after the prophet Muhammed. Semah is performed by semah dancers, accompanied by devout musicians playing the saz long-necked lute.

Traditional Sohbet Meetings play a crucial role in transmitting Turkish folk literature, folk dances and music, village plays as well as societal values. Turkish men meet regularly indoors, especially in winter, to discuss local social and cultural issues, safeguard traditions, and encourage solidarity, mutual respect and a sense of community.

In recent years, the UNESCO, upon the proposal by Turkish Ministry of Culture, inscribed Karagoz (shadow play), Mevlevi Sema ritual (performance of whirling dervishes), asiklik (minstrelsy) tradition, and the art of meddah (public storytellers) on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List which aims to safeguard traditions from around the world.

AA

November 18, 2010