The 6th Ethnosport Forum, held at Calista Luxury Resort Hotel in Belek Tourism Center in Antalya, ended after the last day sessions.
Erdogan made statements to journalists about the forum after the closing program.
Reminding that the forum was canceled last year due to earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, Erdoğan said, “We experienced a very big earthquake on February 6. We spent the budgets we allocated for both the forum and the festival we hold every spring, on the activities we will do in the earthquake region. Kazakhstan in Hatay and Kahramanmaraş We established solidarity camps with the contributions of many of our brothers from Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Azerbaijani. We accommodated families here. We still have a camp, partly in Kahramanmaraş, where approximately 200 families stay. Here, we have kept a connection with tradition, but at the same time, we have provided the opportunity to live in these hair tents even under today’s conditions. “We have shown that it is possible. We have encountered many families who say that it is more comfortable than containers,” he said.
Erdoğan said that in addition to hosting support, they carry out traditional sports and game activities especially for children, and that the work they do in place of the forum is very valuable.
“WE DO NOT WANT COLORFULNESS TO LOST IN TRADITIONAL SPORTS”
Stating that this year the forum was held with participants from approximately 60 countries, Erdoğan stated that important steps were taken for international traditional Ethnosport organizations at the forum.
Stating that they signed a memorandum of understanding with 60 federations, Erdoğan said, “We signed a document of intent for the World Ethnosport Confederation to become an authority in determining the common rule sets to be used in international traditional Ethnosport organizations. We do not want the colorfulness to be lost in traditional sports. We do not prefer sports to be made similar to each other. We want the richness there to be preserved. We do this.” “We want to bring the federations together and create a mechanism that resolves rule disputes. We have already worked in some sports branches. From now on, we will see that the rule set approved by the confederation can be used for both large organizations such as the World Nomad Games and regional organizations. In the coming period, referees, coaches “We will continue our work on training, licensing and accreditation.” made his assessment.
“WE HAVE TAKEN 10 THOUSANDS OF OUR CHILDREN HORSE RIDE”
Stating that views were exchanged with the participating ministers at the forum regarding the inclusion of traditional sports in education, Erdoğan stated that they argued that traditional sports are an important carrier and element of culture and that they should be included in the lives of children at a young age.
Underlining that they attach great importance to the studies to be carried out in schools, Erdoğan said, “For this reason, we advocate opening a window to traditional sports and games in schools and having agendas related to these in physical education classes or other courses. We talked and shared with the participants the ways of this and what has been done so far. “As the World Ethnosport Confederation, we have always attached importance to school activities in our work in Turkey. Every year, we visited more than 100 secondary schools and had tens of thousands of children ride horses, shoot arrows, and play at the barbecue. We will continue our work on these.” he said.
Erdogan added that next year the forum will be held in a member country other than Turkey.