Sports in the first decade of the Republic of Turkey

This study aims to give a description of the diversity in Turkish sports life in the first decade of the republic. While this diversity is being described, the significance of sports life for the Turkish society has been ascertained with regard to the political and social conditions.The study deals with the sports life in the Ottoman Empire covering the period from its foundation until the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, divided in two parts: ?The Traditional Period? and ?The Modernisation Period?. With the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era and the liberal atmosphere it provided, the interest of the Turkish nation in sports had increased and as a consequence the sports life gained a brisk. In addition, many sports clubs had been established and there were endeavours in order to institutionalise sports in the country. However, during World War I the young male population battled on the fronts and as a result the effectiveness of the sports life declined. Following World War I, Turkey had been invaded by imperialistic forces resulting in a ?National Movement? in Anatolia and under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk the national war of independence was won. During the national movement era, the Turkish nation devoted all its strength to the national war of independence and as a result the sports life consisted not more than a few sports events just organised to deceive the enemy.After the national war of independence, the Republic of Turkey had been established on the territory of Anatolia. In the first decade of the republic the sports life in Turkey was founded upon the sports heritage of the Ottoman Empire. The Union of Turkish Training Associations (TICI) which was founded before the announcement of the republic was charged with the management of sports as the sole authoritative institution by the government. Within a ten-year-period TICI had worked for the organisation of sports such as : football, athletics, wrestling, boxing, tennis, volleyball, water sports, winter sports, riding sports, cycling, gymnastics, fencing, shooting and archery. Moreover, it enabled the enrichment of sports in Turkey.No matter how much they have been organised by TICI being an autonomous committee, sports have been actually supported by the state. Despite this support, in the first decade of the republic the sports life failed to actualise the progress being expected. Economic distresses, lack of infrastructure, inability to proceed to professional sports life and the insufficiency of institutionalisation were some of the factors restraining the expected progress.