Türkiye hosted the 4th World Nomad Games
September 28, 2022

From 28 September to 2 October 2022, TURKPA delegation headed by Secretary General Mehmet Süreyya Er attended the 4th World Nomad Games with the motto “Traditional Signature for the Future” organized by Türkiye in İznik, one of the ancient cities in the northeastern of Bursa province dating back to 4th century BC. Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire.

The opening ceremony was held with the participation of President of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Ersin Tatar, President of Tatarstan, Rustem Minnihanov, President of Gagauz Autonomous Region Irina Vlah, Chairman of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of Kazakhstan Yerlan Koshanov, Minister of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan, Farid Gayibov, Minister of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of the Kyrgyz Republic, Azamat Jamankulov, Minister of Youth and Sports of Türkiye, Mehmet Kasapoğlu, Minister of Sports and Youth Policy of Turkmenistan, Gulmyrat Agamyradov, Minister of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan, Adkham Ikramov, Chairman of the Council of Elders of OTS, Binali Yıldırım, President of the World Ethnosport Confederation, Necmettin Bilal Erdoğan, as well as from the Institutions of Turkic Cooperation Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States, Baghdad Amreyev, Secretary General of TURKSOY, Sultan Raev, President of Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundaton, Gunay Afandiyeva, Acting President of the International Turkic Academy, Fuzuli Majidli and high level officials from the countries all over the world.

The grand opening ceremony started with the speech of President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Stressing the significance of the World Nomad Games as a platform for strengthening cooperation, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan noted that the games based on peace and solidarity would promote development of cultural diplomacy.

The event brought together at least 3000 athletes from 102 countries. The program of the games, serving for preservation and promotion of cultural and historical heritage of nomads featured kokbar, traditional archery, horseback archery, mas wrestling, ashyrmali aba wrestling, oil wrestling, kuresh, pekhlevani, atysh and other various traditional competitions.

The 4th World Nomad Games was concluded with solemn closing ceremony held on 2 October in İznik. At the closing ceremony, Minister of Youth and Sports of Türkiye Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu handed over a tiled pitcher containing water to the Minister of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan Dauren Abayev symbolizing that the next 5th World Nomad Games will be held in 2024 in Kazakhstan.