Bursa to host fourth Nomad Games

Fatma Aksu - İZNİK

The fourth World Nomad Games will be held near Lake İznik in the northwestern province of Bursa between Sept. 29 and Oct. 2, with around 3,000 athletes from 40 countries competing across 13 disciplines.

The organization, dedicated to ethnic sports practiced in Central Asia, include wrestling, hunting with eagles and equestrian events.

Various shows will also be performed at the games to promote the culture of the participant countries from around the globe, while the presidents of guest states will be hosted.

The games offer new experiences such as tasting local and universal flavors and witnessing the culture of oba, large nomad tent.

Lake İznik will host the games, the first three of which were held by the Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issyk-Kul, as 3,000 athletes will compete by the waterfront.

Youth and Sports Minister Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu, Bilal Erdoğan, the head of the World Ethnosport Confederation and representatives from 40 countries visited the lake’s shore.

“Nomad Games are an important feature in terms of the elements that build our national identity. It is a trust that should be passed to future generations,” said Kasapoğlu.

These games will be an important milestone, according to the minister.

Pointing to the dynamism that the event would create among the Turkic republics, said, “We are strengthening our ties of brotherhood by Lake Iznik. There is a reason why our Turkish tribes, who fought side by side in Kyrgyzstan, came together here in the 14th century.”