Kirkpinar Winners
Republic Period Başpehlivan
The one-party period of the Republic of Turkey began with the formal establishment of the country in 1923. The başpehlivan, or head wrestler, is the winner of the annual Kirkpinar — the world’s oldest sporting event.
See Also: Kirkpinar Coverage- 1 — Benli Abdullah — (1924)
- 2 — Geçkinli Yusuf — (1925) [1]
- 3 — Kara Emin — (1926)
- 4 — Manisalı Rifat — (1927)
- 5 — Gostivarlı Mülâyim (Acar) — (1928)
- 6 — Gostivarlı Mülayim — (1929)
- 7 — Kara Ali Acar — (1930)
- 8 — Edirneli Himmet — Çoban Mehmet (1931) [2]
- 9 — Kara Ali Acar — (1932)
- 10 — Huseyin Alkaya — (1933)
- 11 — Gostivarlı Mülayim and Hüseyin Alkaya — (1934) [3]
- 12 — Hüseyin Alkaya — (1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942)
- 13 — Kozpınarlı İbrahim — (1943)
- 14 — Suleyman Ertas — (1944)
- 15 — Babaeskil İbrahim Erdi — (1945)
- 16 — Sındırgılı Şerif Ünal — (1946)
- 17 — İsmail Çolak — Süleyman Ertaş — (1947) [4]
- 18 — Babaeski Mustafa Yenici — (1948)
- 19 — Sındırgılı Şerif Ünal — (1949)
- 20 — Süleyman Ertaş — (1950)
- 21 — İrfan Atan — (1951)
- 22 — Tarzan Mehmet — (1952)
- 23 — İrfan Atan — (1953)
- 24 — Ibrahim Karabacak — (1954)
- 25 — İrfan Atan — (1955)
- 26 — Ibrahim Karabacak — (1956)
- 27 — Hasan Acar — (1957)
- 28 — Adil Atan — (1958)
- 29 — Ibrahim Karabacak — (1959, 1960)
- 30 — Mehmet Ali Yağcı — (1961)
- 31 — Mehmet Ali Yağcı and Ali Çelik (1962) [5]
- 32 — Sezai Kanmaz — (1963)
- 33 — Mehmet Ali Yağcı — (1964)
- 34 — Ali Çelik — (1965)
- 35 — Ordulu Mustafa Bük — (1966, 1967, 1968)
- 36 — Babaeskil Nazmi Uzun — (1969)
- 37 — Ali Çelik and Aydın Demir — (1970) [6]
- 38 — Hasan Şahin — (1971)
- 39 — Mustafa Yıldız — (1972)
- 40 — Davut Yılmaz — (1973)
- 41 — Ali Çelik — (1974)
- 42 — Wrestling canceled by the municipality (1975)
- 43 — Aydın Demir — (1976, 1977, 1978)
- 44 — Sabri Acar — (1979)
- 45 — Mehmet Guclu — (1980)
- 46 — Mustafa Yıldız — (1981)
- 47 — Hüseyin Çokal — (1982, 1983, 1984)
- 48 — Sabri Acar — (1985)
- 49 — İbrahim Gümüş — (1986)
- 50 — Recep Kılıç — (1987)
- 51 — Recep Gurbuz — (1988)
- 52 — Saffet Kayali — (1989)
- 53 — Ahmet Taşçı — (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993)
- 54 — Cengiz Elbeye — (1994)
- 55 — Ahmet Taşçı — (1995, 1996, 1997)
- 56 — Cengiz Elbeye — (1998)
- 57 — Ahmet Taşçı — (1999)
- 58 — Vedat Ergin — (2000, 2001)
- 59 — Hasan Tuna — (2002)
- 60 — Kenan Simsek — (2003)
- 61 — Recep Kara — (2004)
- 62 — Şaban Yılmaz — (2005)
- 63 — Osman Aynur — (2006)
- 64 — Recep Kara — (2007, 2008)
- 65 — Mehmet Yesilyeşil — (2009, 2010)
- 66 — Ali Gurbuz — (2011, 2012)
- 67 — İsmail Balaban — (2013)
- 68 — Fatih Atli — (2014)
- 69 — Orhan Okulu — (2015)
- 70 — Recep Kara — (2016)
- 71 — İsmail Balaban — (2017)
- 72 — Orhan Okulu (2018)
- 73 — Ali Gurbuz (2019)
- 74 — Ali Gürbüz (2021)
- 75 — Cengizhan Şimşek (2022)
- 76 — Yusuf Can Zeybek (2023)
- 77 — Yusuf Can Zeybek (2024)
[1] Appears in publications, but unverified.
[2] Tied.
[3] Tied.
[4] No winner was declared.
[5] No winner was declared.
[6] Wrestling ended before its conclusion.