Karakucak is a form of wrestling in which no oil is rubbed on the wrestler's body and the opponent is brought down only by gripping and wrapping him in a hold. It is counted among the oldest wrestling styles of the Turks. In provinces where oil wrestling never took root, such as Amasya, Tokat, Çorum, Sivas and Samsun, it remains the chief entertainment of weddings, religious holidays and highland festivals. Wrestlers in the coarse garment called pırpıt meet on the meadow to the sound of drum and zurna, under the direction of the announcer, the cazgır. Amasya's part in this tradition has not been limited to supplying spectators or hosts. The pehlivans (wrestlers) of Hamamözü carried the road that leads from the meadow to the mat all the way to the Olympic podium, and the district commemorates them every year with a wrestling festival that bears the names of three of them.

Name and Origin

There is no single view on where the name karakucak comes from. According to the most common explanation, the word was formed from "kara" and "kucak". In the Turkic languages kara means not only black but also mourning, pain and disorder; and among the Turkmens of Kars it is reported that when a stone too heavy for one person had to be lifted by several people embracing it together, they called this "kara kucak etmek". The second view, which carries more weight, holds that the name is a transformation of "kara koçak". Koç is the ram, and in Turkish it also means brave man, hero; koçak likewise means champion, brave man. The rendering of the concept of wrestling in Chinese writing by a sign of butting, and the drawing of butting rams beside wrestling pehlivans in Ottoman miniatures, are cited as indications supporting this second reading. In popular speech the sense of "the wrestling of the dark-complexioned braves and the swarthy koçaks" must have turned into "karakucak" in this way.

The roots of the sport reach back to Central Asia. It is a frequently repeated observation that karakucak is the same wrestling as that practised among the Oghuz and the early Turks, and that over the centuries it has changed very little in form and rule. Similar forms are known to have been wrestled across a very wide geography, from the Yakut Turks to Mongolia, from Azerbaijan to East and West Turkestan, and from the Crimean to the Kazan Turks. The tale of Bamsı Beyrek in the Book of Dede Korkut is the most frequently cited written evidence of this continuity. Words that appear in the story, such as "kavraştılar" (they grappled), "sarmaştılar" (they wrapped each other), "yire urmak" (to throw to the ground), "bağdamasın aldı" (he took the cross-legged hold) and "biline girdi" (he got in at the waist), are still alive today in the wrestling vocabulary of the regions where karakucak is practised, and the description of the fall as "throwing him down on his back" shows the sport's basis in putting the opponent flat on his back. Carried from Central Asia to Anatolia, this wrestling passed from the Mediterranean coast to Rumelia, where the Rumelian Turks called it "harman güreşi" (threshing-floor wrestling). The mat wrestling known today as freestyle is also regarded as a codified and systematised form of karakucak.

The social meaning given to wrestling is also old. The Turks regarded the wrestling place as a place of worship and the wrestling ground as the er meydanı, the field of manly valour. The word pehlivan is of Persian origin. The Anatolian Seljuks used it for wrestlers and for those who showed heroism in war, and from the early sixteenth century until the end of the reign of Mahmud II the Ottomans applied the name to all sportsmen, including archers, wrestlers and mace-wielders; after the Tanzimat the word described only wrestlers. Because wrestling was counted among the sports encouraged by the Prophet, it was also seen as a kind of sunnah, which led to the opening of the ground with prayers and to wrestling becoming an indispensable part of ceremonies such as weddings.

Homeland of Dry Wrestling

In Turkey wrestling lives along two main lines. In oil wrestling, led by Kırkpınar in Thrace, pehlivans enter the arena with their bodies oiled. In the east and north of central Anatolia and in the interior of the Mediterranean region, dry wrestling prevails. Provinces such as Kahramanmaraş, Tokat, Amasya, Çorum, Sivas, Erzincan, Erzurum, Samsun and Yozgat are listed as the regions where karakucak lives. In these regions karakucak has been the chief entertainment of the wedding, the holiday, the fair and the highland festival since earliest times. Academic studies have established that karakucak wrestling is particularly widespread in Kahramanmaraş, Tokat, Amasya, Çorum and Sivas, and a wrestling official speaking about the sources of Turkey's wrestlers has likewise mentioned the meadows of Kahramanmaraş, Çorum, Tokat, Sivas and Amasya.

The boundary between the two traditions is not always sharp. The wrestling held in Amasya's Suluova district is a good example. Suluova Municipality organised karakucak wrestling for years, and in later years began to continue the same event as oil wrestling on the Yedikır wrestling ground. At the event held in September for the third time, twenty-six başpehlivans took part, among them the gold-belt holders of Kırkpınar İsmail Balaban, Yusuf Can Zeybek, Recep Kara and Orhan Okulu. According to the mayor, the aim is to remind people again of the deep wrestling past of Suluova, which "produced world and Olympic champions in the past".

From the Wedding Meadow to the Wrestling Ground

Karakucak was most often wrestled at village weddings. In the old days a wedding without wrestling and music was not counted as a wedding, and the wrestling began after the bride had been taken from her father's house and brought to the groom's house. If the host was well-off, a wedding that began on Thursday and the wrestling would go on into Friday. The wealth of the host determined the size of the prizes and whether famous pehlivans would take part. When the prize was large, pehlivans came from villages and towns, and the wrestling held at such weddings was called "the great wrestling". For children, wrestling was most often the first sport they met in the village. Boys who admired famous pehlivans would begin by wrestling with their peers.

Today the festival and the municipal event have taken the place of the wedding meadow. Even so, the social function of wrestling largely continues. Wrestling is held as traditional wrestling, local wrestling, and wedding, holiday and festival wrestling; the Turkish Wrestling Federation has regulated it with an instruction dated 2010 and a karakucak competition instruction prepared later. The tradition of the ağa still lives on at the events. The ağa is the moral patron of the organisation, and the title is awarded by auction. The choice of the ağa is made before the heavyweight (baş) bouts; whoever offers the highest sum becomes the ağa of the following year, is dressed in local costume, and is counted a natural member of the next year's organising committee. He pays the sum he has pledged after the wrestling.

The Ground, the Cazgır and Drum and Zurna

The meadow or lawn where karakucak is wrestled is called the meydan. The order of the ground is in the hands of the cazgır or meydancı. Depending on the region this person is known as cazgır, meydan şeyhi, crier, salavatçı, prayer-leader or peşrevci; in the Kastamonu region he is called "değnekçi" (stick-man) because he carries a stick. Before the pehlivans are released onto the ground the cazgır prays and recites a salavat in verse. In the heavyweight class, for well-known pehlivans, the prayer is read separately behind each pair. The pehlivans turn their faces toward the qibla and put their right hands over their hearts. One of the refrains the cazgır calls on the meadow begins, "hand on the leg, knee on the ground, let us wrestle on level ground".

After the prayer comes the çırpınma. In karakucak the peşrev is called çırpınma or perdah, and it differs from the peşrev of oil wrestling. The pehlivans walk side by side, slapping their hands against their thighs, their backs and each other, then after a certain number of steps turn face to face and clap the palms of their hands together, repeating the same movement in the opposite direction. Finally they come chest to chest and stroke each other's backs, shake hands and wish each other success, and begin the bout with their hands on each other's necks. To enter the bout without the çırpınma is considered a disgrace; the pehlivan who does so has deceived his opponent and is not counted the winner even if he wins. A pehlivan who wants to begin strikes his right hand on the inside of his knee to announce his intention, and his opponent answers with cries such as "hayda pehlivan, hayda koçum". Some approach each other slowly with their eyes closed, others with one knee on the ground. The warm-up in which pehlivans come onto the ground before the bout and test one another is called "makaban" or "kaldırmaç" in some regions.

The place of music in wrestling is an institution in itself. Drum and zurna do not fall silent throughout the bout; the music encourages the pehlivan, excites the spectators and changes its rhythm with the stages of the bout. The band is usually made up of a pair of zurnas and two or more drums, and the Köroğlu tune is played often. Six traditional types of wrestling are counted as wrestled to drum and zurna in Turkey: karakucak, aba, Tatar, şalvar, oil wrestling and camel wrestling. In karakucak the drum and zurna players wear the local costume of the region and play under the direction of the cazgır.

The Pırpıt and the Rules

One of the hallmarks of karakucak is the "pırpıt" the pehlivan wears. The word actually means a worn-out, useless garment; coarse woollens woven on hand looms are also called pırpıt. In wrestling it means a short, close-fitting pair of trousers, formerly woven from goat hair and today most often sewn from canvas or stiff linen. In some regions it is also called kispet; this is purely a matter of local naming. It is also reported that in the Çorum and Amasya region the same garment is called "dar", but this name does not appear in written sources to be as widespread as pırpıt and kispet. The pehlivan's body may not be oiled. The federation instruction forbids wearing an oiled pırpıt and does not accept a leather kispet or a pırpıt with an elasticated waist. Wrestlers are barefoot, and blue or red ankle ties are fastened to their ankles according to their draw number. Thus gripping the opponent, grasping him and bringing him down is left entirely to strength, skill and technical knowledge.

The classes of karakucak wrestling are ön ayak, ayak, orta and baş. If the number of pehlivans is large, the ayak class may be divided into two or three parts, the orta class into küçük orta and büyük orta, and the baş class into başaltı and baş. Traces of this division are also seen in the programmes of the festivals in Amasya: at a karakucak wrestling event held in Gümüşhacıköy, bouts were held in the categories minikler (minis), teşvik, tozkoparan, ayak, deste küçük, deste büyük, küçük orta, büyük orta, başaltı and başpehlivanlık. In the Turkish championships, on the other hand, ten weight classes between 48 and 130 kilograms are used in the mat format.

In the old days the only way to win a bout was to defeat the opponent by a fall; there was no measure such as a point or score. In some regions, especially Çukurova, wrestling was done with the "bridge", and a pehlivan who came to the bridge, that is, whose navel saw daylight, was counted as beaten. Today karakucak wrestling in Turkey is scored by points: in bouts that end with the referee's whistle, the one who has collected the most points is declared the winner, and if the points are level, the first to score in extra time wins. A wrestler who defeats his opponent by a fall in normal time ends the match directly. The licence is validated every year, a pehlivan without a licence may not wrestle, and prizes may not fall below the amount set by the federation each January. In each weight class, half of the prize goes to the first, thirty percent to the second, and twenty percent to the third.

The repertoire of karakucak holds is wide, and many of the names are taken from everyday life. Askıya alma, budama, boyunduruk, bohçalama, çangal, çelme, dalma, dana bağı, göğüs çaprazı, paça kapma, kapan, kazık, kaz kanadı, kepçe, kılçık, kurt kapanı, künde, sarma, tırpan and tilki kuyruğu are only some of them. Holds done standing and holds done on the ground are counted separately; for example elense, tırpan, boyunduruk and the single and double çapraz are among the standing holds, while kemane, dış kazık, iç kazık, single and double sarma, oturak kündesi, diz kündesi, bel kündesi and yerde kaz kanadı are the ground holds.

The Ethics of the Pehlivan

In karakucak the end of the bout is also marked by ceremony. When the fall has occurred, the defeated pehlivan, as soon as he gets to his feet, embraces the winner and lifts him in the air to weigh him. The winner's prize is hung round his neck, and the loser is given a prize too, so that his heart is gladdened. The custom of collecting money from the crowd (parsa toplama) does not exist in karakucak. The referee or the cazgır gives the winner a coloured or white handkerchief; as the pehlivan returns to his tent he takes this cloth in his hand or tucks it into his belt. During the bout the pehlivan underneath may not go to the water and the cloth unless he rises by his own strength and skill; he is given water only where he is, and his sweat is wiped.

The idioms wrestling has left to Turkish show the relationship society has formed with this sport. Doing the best at a task is called "başa güreşmek", showing that one is not afraid is "meydan okumak", calling on anyone confident to come forward is "hodri meydan", spoiling someone's affairs is "kılçık atmak", and persuading someone is "kafa kola almak". If strength and will are on the other side, there is nothing to be done, because "zor oyunu bozar" (force spoils the trick). In the old days a defeated wrestler who wanted to wrestle the winner again on the same day asked permission and could do so; the saying "Allah'ın hakkı üçtür" (God's due is three) comes from this. According to what is told in Amasya, when a pehlivan beats his opponent he lifts him from the ground and strokes his back; victory turns into humility, and the respect won on the ground is often counted worth more than the bout won. Young pehlivans learn this ethic too by following in the footsteps of their masters.

The Wrestling Tradition of Hamamözü

The best-known home of Amasya's karakucak, and of Turkish wrestling in general, is Hamamözü. In the years when Adil Candemir was born the district was attached to the Gümüşhacıköy kaza; today it is known for its pehlivans as much as for its thermal springs. Its officials say so openly: a mayor has said that the district stands out with its "pehlivans and thermal springs", and a district governor that Hamamözü has produced very important wrestlers throughout its wrestling history. Three names have become the symbols of this tradition: Adil Candemir, Hamit Kaplan and İsmail Topçam.

Adil Candemir was born in Hamamözü in 1917. He is recorded as being of Shapsug origin. He began wrestling with oil wrestling and rose to başpehlivan at a young age; he turned to mat wrestling in the second half of the 1930s. The disruption of international competitions during the Second World War kept him away from the mat for part of his most productive years. At the 1948 London Olympics, in freestyle at 79 kilograms, he beat the Australian Bruce Arthur in the first round, the Canadian Maurice Vachon on a referee's decision in the second, and the Briton Eddie Bowey in the third; in the fourth round he lost to the American Glen Brand, and because he did not wrestle in the final round he won the silver medal under the penalty-points system. He won gold at the 1949 European Championships in Istanbul at 87 kilograms and bronze in Greco-Roman heavyweight at the 1950 World Championships in Stockholm; in 1951 in Helsinki he finished sixth at the freestyle world championships. After his athletic career he moved to coaching and had a share in the development of names such as Hamit Kaplan and Mahmut Atalay. He died on 12 January 1989. In the lists that mention champions who moved from karakucak to the mat, his name stands beside those of Yaşar Doğu, Celal Atik, Nasuh Akar and Hüseyin Akbaş.

Hamit Kaplan was Candemir's nephew and pupil. His date of birth is given as 20 September, and the year appears as 1933 in some sources and 1934 in others. His birthplace is Hamamözü. In his youth he began with oil wrestling and moved on to mat wrestling at the encouragement of his maternal uncle and teacher Candemir. He was a large-framed pehlivan, 1.90 metres tall and about 100 kilograms, who wrestled in a defensive style; he did his military service in the navy team. He was selected for the national team in 1954, and in 1955, aged twenty-two, he won a bronze medal at the world championships in Karlsruhe. At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, in freestyle above 87 kilograms, he beat the American William Kerslake in the first round, then threw the Indian Lila Ram, the Iranian Hüseyin Nuri and the Finn Taisto Kangasniemi by fall in the following rounds, and in the final beat Hüseyin Mehmedov, who competed for Bulgaria, 3-0 to become Olympic champion. In 1957 he won the freestyle world title. He took second place at the 1960 Rome Olympics and also appears in the medal list at Tokyo in 1964. In total he is reported to have collected 32 European, world and Olympic medals: fifteen gold, eleven silver and six bronze. The number of times he wore the national jersey differs between sources; one says 115, others 175. After retiring from active sport he ran a restaurant in Düzce. He died in a traffic accident on 5 January 1976; his age is given as 41 in some sources and 42 in others, and the place of death is shown as either Çorum or Ankara's Kızılcahamam district. He was buried in the Hamamözü district cemetery. In September 2011 he was admitted to the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame.

İsmail Topçam is the third name remembered as a national wrestler. It is known that he died in June 2013 and that his name was added to the festival that same year; since no detailed source on his life could be found, this is all that can be written. When Hamamözü officials mention these three, they stress their example as people as well as their championships.

The district has tried to keep this legacy alive in tangible forms. According to the district governorate, the pehlivans' names have been given to mosques, schools and streets, and the wrestlers are regarded as the "brand value" of the district. Hamit Kaplan's house in Hamamözü was turned into a museum by the municipality in 2012, and a middle school bears his name. On 5 January 2023, on the 47th anniversary of his death, the documentary "Pehlivan", prepared jointly by the Hamamözü District Governorate and the municipality, directed by the district special administration director Serdar Çolak and drawing on the TRT archive, reached its audience. Speaking at the presentation at the Amasya Municipality Cultural Centre, the world and Olympic champion Ahmet Ayık said that the record for medals and for points brought to the country in the heavyweight class still belongs to Kaplan. The mayor said that the documentary should be shown in schools and universities, and that young people should learn the life of their fellow townsman who set out from Hamamözü with a wooden suitcase and put the world on its back.

The Hamit Kaplan, Adil Candemir and İsmail Topçam Karakucak Wrestling

This festival, organised by the Hamamözü District Governorate and the municipality, is the yearly gathering of Hamamözü's wrestling tradition. The 15th edition was held in August 2013. The day before the bouts, on 17 August 2013, the wrestlers were commemorated with prayers at the graves of Kaplan and Candemir; that year it was announced that the name of İsmail Topçam had also been added to the name of the event. About four hundred wrestlers were invited, and the başpehlivan title was won by Yalçın Sözen, with Fatih Çakıroğlu second. The 16th festival was held on 11 October 2014.

On 1 October 2016 the 17th festival was held in the town stadium. Recep Kara won the başpehlivan title, Serhat Balcı came second, and Murat Gençtürk and Ali Rıza Kaya shared third place. 240 athletes took part in the bouts. Speaking at the opening, the district governor said that these lands had produced Hamit Kaplan, Adil Candemir and İsmail Topçam in the past and would produce new champions in the future, and that it was not enough for a Turkish sportsman to lay his opponent on the ground with agility and strength alone, but that he should also be unrivalled on the mat in his knowledge, his manners and his character. The mayor said that the wrestlers whose names they had given to the event were a source of pride both for their championships and for their exemplary character. The Governor of Amasya, Salih Işık, also watched the event.

In the bouts of October 2018 the başpehlivan title went to Rıza Yıldırım; Recep Kara came second, and Fatih Kambur and Yalçın Sözen third. That year about two hundred wrestlers took part in the district's bouts. At the festival organised by the municipality for the 19th time in September 2023, Bekir Eryücel became başpehlivan, Fatih Yaşarlı took second place, and Rıza Yıldırım and Samet Özarslan shared third. The district governor described the keeping alive of the centuries-old wrestling culture and its transmission to future generations as everyone's responsibility. The mayor said that wrestling in Hamamözü is a passion and a love, and that wrestling and the thermal springs are of great importance to the district. Comparing ordinal numbers with years shows that the festival was not held every year: the 15th edition took place in 2013 and the 19th in 2023. The sources at hand give no details for the years in between.

Amasya's Other Meadows

Karakucak does not live only in Hamamözü in Amasya. In the Gümüşhacıköy district the Kabaoğuz Villages Culture, Solidarity and Development Association organises the Kabaoğuz Highland Festival every year, and the karakucak wrestling is the most watched event of the festival. The bouts take place on Aphaz Meadow. At the 29th festival 250 pehlivans, including 32 başpehlivans among them Fatih Kambur, Ömer Faruk Kalender, Bekir Eryücel, Rıza Yıldırım, Harun Kılıç and Bekir Demirtaş, wrestled in bouts that lasted all day. At the 30th festival Harun Kılıç and Ömer Faruk Kalender reached the final; in a hard-fought match Kılıç beat his opponent, with Kalender second, Mehmet Üngören third and Fatih Kambur fourth. At these festivals, where the stands and the edge of the meadow fill up and the spectators support the pehlivans with cheering, young and adult pehlivans are seen wrestling on the same meadow. Governorate sources state that national karakucak wrestling is also held in Gümüşhacıköy and that many spectators visit the district for it.

The same names are also seen meeting again on different meadows. Rıza Yıldırım, Bekir Eryücel and Fatih Kambur appear in the result lists of both Hamamözü and Gümüşhacıköy; Recep Kara, as well as winning the başpehlivan title in Hamamözü, is mentioned among the gold-belt names at the oil wrestling in Suluova. In this way Amasya's karakucak and oil wrestling traditions are linked through the same pehlivans.

From Karakucak to the Mat

In Turkey karakucak wrestling has long been regarded as the nursery of mat wrestling. Many wrestlers who won Olympic, world and European titles moved from karakucak to the mat: Ahmet Yılmaz, Sadık Soğancı, Seyit Ahmet Süer, Yaşar Doğu, Celal Atik, Adil Candemir, Nasuh Akar, Sadık Esen, Hüseyin Akbaş and Taha Akgül are counted among them. Hüseyin Akbaş rising from shepherding and becoming a champion despite an injury to one leg is among the examples often told in the wrestling world. In 1987 a karakucak project was prepared to organise this transition: trials were held in villages among twelve-year-old children during the primary-school holidays, those who came first in the districts and provinces were sent to the Turkish championships, and wrestling training centres were established within this framework. Today the trials are largely held in halls with tests based on mat wrestling, but karakucak keeps its character as a source.

There are also serious observations on the decline of interest in karakucak. Researchers list among the causes modernisation, the staging of prearranged bouts, the weakening of attachment to custom and tradition, and the press no longer showing the interest it once did. A wrestling official has also said that children no longer take their pırpıts and go to the meadows, and that they play football in the villages. The festivals that municipalities and associations repeat every year, as in Hamamözü, therefore have an important place in keeping the tradition going.

Official karakucak competitions in Turkey are open only to men. Even so, it is known that in history princes and women also wrestled, and that in the Dede Korkut tales girls and boys were made to wrestle each other. In 2019, at the Kızıldağ Karakucak Wrestling in Adana's Karaisalı district, women wrestlers of the national team gave a demonstration for the first time.

Chronology

1917: Adil Candemir is born in Hamamözü.

1933 or 1934: Hamit Kaplan is born in Hamamözü (the birth year appears in these two forms in the sources).

1948: Adil Candemir wins a silver medal in freestyle at 79 kilograms at the London Olympics.

1949: Adil Candemir wins a gold medal at 87 kilograms at the European Championships in Istanbul.

1954: Hamit Kaplan is selected for the national team.

1956: Hamit Kaplan becomes Olympic champion in freestyle at the Melbourne Olympics.

1957: Hamit Kaplan wins the freestyle world title.

5 January 1976: Hamit Kaplan dies in a traffic accident.

1987: The karakucak project, transferring athletes from karakucak to the mat, is launched in Turkey.

12 January 1989: Adil Candemir dies.

2010: The Turkish Wrestling Federation Karakucak Wrestling Instruction is issued.

2012: Hamit Kaplan's house in Hamamözü is turned into a museum.

August 2013: The 15th Hamamözü Karakucak Wrestling is held; the name of İsmail Topçam is added to the event.

5 January 2023: The documentary "Pehlivan" reaches its audience on the 47th anniversary of Hamit Kaplan's death.

September 2023: Bekir Eryücel becomes başpehlivan at the 19th Hamamözü Karakucak Wrestling.

Sources

Academic studies

Official sources

Other sources

Online sources