Wrestling in Asia Minor is more than a simple sport, it is part of what it means to be Turkish. Much like the more familiar Tsumo mega-heavyweight variety of wrestling is part and parcel of what it means to be Japanese.
Another advantage Turkish Wrestling has over other physique volumes is that it, of course, features only Turkish men. Perhaps nowhere else will you find such a vivid assortment of half-naked Turkish masculinity.
The photographic subjects range through a wide body type and age spectrum, from hardly more than hairless, twig-like teens all the way up to middle-aged men with thick, hirsute, bearish figures.
Virtually all of the men are of the dark haired variety we usually visualize Turks to be. However, Turkey has been at the crossroads of Asia and Europe for millennia and has absorbed innumerable ethnic and racial groups and influences over the ages. There is at least one redhead in Turkish Wrestling, perhaps a Kurdish young man from the other end of Turkey, where Kurds
form a substantial minority.
All of the pictures are reality photos, action shots, hard, sweaty men in motion, wrestlers grabbing each other, flipping each other over, pulling, straining, grappling, marching on or off the field, pouring oil onto their bodies from a spouted can not unlike the tin-man used in the Wizard of Oz,
enjoining in battle.
Presumably these are all fully straight heterosexual males, yet their all- encompassing gladiatorial embraces remind me of nothing more than sexual positions and pre-intercourse foreplay. Almost as if they were battling for sexual dominance. Something you might expect to see in the bedroom, rather than in an open-air sports arena.
That being said, I was recently on the Bosphorus and can verify from personal experience that sexual preference is at least fluid in the minds of the men of Anatolia.
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ERNIE'S TALE:
Middle Eastern men go both ways in the
right situation, with the right person. I had
heard that all my life, but had it driven home to me on my recent visit.
The first such enticing young man I met
was a 20 year-old Kurd. An absolutely
ravishing specimen of macho sexuality.
I was walking the cobble stone streets of
Istanbul in search of a particular Hamami,
a local bathhouse, and asked him if he knew
how to get there. He said he would be
delighted to escort me there.
As we briskly walked in the morning
mist he plied me with all the usual
questions people ask when they are
trying to figure out your sexual
preference, are you married, have
you ever been married, and finally,
do you have a girlfriend. I could tell
he really wanted to know the truth,
so I just told him straight out that I
was not only 100% gay, but a god-damn
cock sucking fagot as well! .
That brought an instant smile to his warm,
knowing face. As we approached the door
to the Hamami he told me he gave an
awesome massage as well.
He pointed to his second story home just
across the street, and suggested I drop by
after my visit to the Hamami. I said,
"Screw the Hamami! Let's go to your place."
I jumped at the chance to get to know him more intimately.
He prepared us tiny glasses of steaming
hot traditional Turkish Apple Tea, but before
I could swallow one sip his powerful hands
were kneading my shoulders. It was as if my
muscles were melted butter, he could
penetrate right through the tissue with ease.
I felt like I was a sponge absorbing every
one of his welcome caresses. He was truly magnificent.
With a sly grin on his youthful face he asked
what else I liked to do.
"I like to travel, write, I collect silver coins?"
But I knew what he meant, and he knew that
I was being playfully evasive. So I asked him
bluntly, "Are you gay?"
No, not at all, but anything is possible. We
can fuck or have oral sex, anything you want.
Wanna see my Kurdish banana?
I was of course pleased as well as surprised,
thunderstruck really. Rarely had even a
card-carrying fellow gay male been so blunt
and direct with me. I told him I was happy just
to be with him, to be welcome in his home.
To share this time with him.
Rather than argue the point, he peeled off his
stylish clothes revealing a thoroughly muscled
body more spectacular than I ever imagined.
I'm sure my salivating tongue dangled in
amazement and my light brown Chicano eyes
went tilt!
I was sitting on his leather couch with him
standing directly in front of me. He asked me
what I thought of him, did he measure up? I told
him he was the most exciting man I had ever
met, a dream come true. I told him I particularly
liked his belly button, so he moved closer and
rubbed his innie navel in my face, I soon felt my
tongue running around his tightly tied belly button.
He told me he could hardly contain his excitement,
I knew he meant he was about to cum, and sure enough,
he blasted me with a hot load that dripped from my face,
down my chest and onto my knees. He knelt down
before me and sensually licked his own voluminous
cum from my face and body. I was in heaven!
---
One of the best photos in Turkish Wrestling is on the cover, a set of abs to kill for, also available as a poster.
One of my favorite pictures is of an injured player, his head tightly wrapped in a wide, white gauze bandage that almost obscures his eyes below. A stray lock of his fine hair dangling over the bandage. One ear pressed flat under the bandage, the other ear almost pointing away from his head.
His thumbs stuck inside the center front of his pants about three inches below his belly button, his well-veined hands almost forming an arrow head pointing down to his erotic zone.
In another poignant picture we find a deflated and fallen warrior flat on his back, perhaps knocked out, maybe worse, a kneeling medic checking the dilation of his pupils for a glimmer of life.
Another spectacular picture shows a particularly macho Turk with powerful arms leaning backwards as an unseen accomplice ladles a quart of oil onto his torso directly below his navel, oozing down into his low-rise heavily embossed leather pants, lubricating his balls and prick, just in case an opponent might reach into his pants and grab them to use as a human handle, of course. We see him in profile, completely oblivious of the camera, his hands on his chest, as if contracting his already lean stomach to let more warm oil seep into his nether regions.
Of course there is the rich historical and cultural context to relish, but even if you skip the text the pictures alone are enough to warrant the cover price. This intimate and tactile sport arose in the small remnant European portion of Turkey, in the little-known, one-time Ottoman capital of Edirne, where the modern Turkish Republic approaches ancient rival Greece and Bulgaria.
The second Ottoman Sultan allowed his troops time to wrestle here before proceeding to battle. Two equally matched combatants refused to cry uncle, choosing instead to die of exhaustion. The annual summer event continues in their memory.
The first time I saw a Turkish Oil Wrestling match I was quite startled to see one guy reach into his opponent's pants! And I don't mean just a slip of the hand, he grabbed way down into his crotch. I soon learned that this is the way combatants gain traction, by slipping a hand, or hands, into their opponent's pants. He could grab for the buns, or the family jewels. Nothing is off limits, not even smacking him in the face.
The oil they employ is, of course olive oil, the oil of choice around the Mediterranean. But its not just a few drops as in a massage, the entire body, head to toe, is absolutely drenched in the slippery, golden, glistening oil. And that's the point, to make it hard to hold your opponent.
Turkish Wrestling is the perfect gift, especially if you're not sure if your friend is gay. This book won't offend straights, but if he takes an inordinate interest in the physiques you have your answer as to his sexual preference.
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How to come by:
Turkish Wrestling by Lawrence Grecco. 80 plates on 96 pages in a hard binding. Published by Apollon Press in 2004. Retail price $50. The special limited edition boxed and autographed version of Turkish Wrestling, including a poster of your choice, is a whooping $200! New and used copies of the regular edition can be found on Alibirs.com for from about $30 on up. 20" x 24" prints suitable for framing are available from www.artmenparis.com Neither the autho's, nor his publisher's websites are particularly user friendly, nor up to date, but can be useful. You might find a copy of Turkish Wrestling at your local library, that's how I found mine. I called my library and they borrowed it from a library that had it. You can buy up to 22 different Turkish Wrestling videos, or DVDs at: turkishwrestling.com for $33 each.
Your comments are always welcome:ErnieAlderete@charter.net