Contribution of Yildiz to Turkey’s oldest sports, as well as his struggles to navigate society in Afro-Turk form part of a larger history of the Afro-Turkish diaspora of twentieth-century Turkey.
As the late Mustafa Olpak opened his memoir, Kenya-Girit-Istanbul: Kole Kiyisindan Insan Biyografileri (‘Kenya-Crete-Istanbul: Human Biographies from the Slave Coast), the first generation lives, the second generation rejects the third generation researches. My doctoral research focused on the Ottoman Empire’s history of the African diaspora. It covered the 19th and 20th centuries. I came across figures like Esmeray darker, Frederick Bruce Thomas, and Dursune Sirin.
Dionne Brand, a poet, and novelist said that writing is an act of wish, just like reading. Much of my work, however, is also a result of the desire to place Black characters more directly in Turkey’s cultural past.
Mustafa Yildiz is one of the many people I highlighted. He left a lasting impression on traditional Turkish oil wrestling, which is one of Turkey’s oldest and most popular sports. My series will show that there are many local Afro-diasporic stories that illuminate transnational stories.
The relationship between Africa, the Ottoman Empire, and Africa extends well beyond the 16th century. It reaches far beyond Egypt and the Lake Chad region. Over the centuries, some parts of Africa were incorporated into empires. Because of the existence of the slave trade in the region and Islam’s prohibition against the enslaving of Muslims, Africa became an important source of labor and geography. Slavery increased as the empire grew, often through wars, from the North African region to the Red Sea, Gulf and Circassian, and Georgian regions.
Ehud Toledano, the historian, claims that 16,000-18,000 African enslaved people were brought into the empire from Africa each year during the 19th century. The Ottoman Empire’s enslaved Africans, mostly African women and girls were often employed as domestic servants. The Ottoman Empire made several attempts to ban the trafficking of enslaved Africans between 1848-1880. Later, it attempted to rebuild Izmir’s hinterlands by integrating Africans. This is partly why Turkey’s African diaspora formed a community in Aegean.
Mustafa Olpak’s family also may have experienced a resettlement process in 1923 and arrived in Turkey as Mustafa Yildiz did. He was born in 1943 in Akhisar’s village of Sazoba. He started wrestling when he entered the ring at 19 years old.
Kirkpinar is a wrestling festival that has been held annually since 1346. It is the most important yagli gures (oil wrestling) competition and has a rich origin narrative. The festival also shows how much they value their tradition of identifying Black people in Turkey, even if they were nicknamed Arap Mustafa.
Yildiz became champion in his first year and was deemed most gentlemanly, but once he forcefully complained after a match, he was banned from the Kirkpinar Championship.
He won the 3-match wrestling tournament to become the first black champion of Turkey. His opponents were expected to be tough, but he beat them in just 34 minutes.
After a close call in ’75, Yildiz was banned for 3 years. In 1981 he made his triumphant return to Kirkpinar and after two days of battling, won his second title as champion. After this victory, he officially retired from the sport and decided to work as a referee instead. The referee made a few changes in the rule that were not appreciated by the players.
