TİKA Provides Sports Equipment for Meskhetian Young People

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) provided sports equipment for Meskhetian young people living in Kherson, Ukraine.

A gym located in the district of Chaplynka, where nearly 2,000 Meskhetian Turkish families live, was put into service by TİKA for young people.

TİKA provided sports equipment such as wrestling mats, wrestling dummies, weight training station, and climbing walls needed at the gym, which is affiliated with the local government of Chaplynka in Kherson. As wrestling is of historical and cultural importance for Meskhetian Turks, whose economic resources are limited, the gym is an important center where wrestling courses and training sessions are held.

The project aimed to renew the infrastructure of the gym, which is used by nearly 90 Ukrainian and Meskhetian young people a day; to improve the environment where wrestling courses and training sessions are held; and to contribute to both ethnic cohesion and integration efforts.

Implemented by TİKA’s Ukraine Program Coordination Office, the project contributed to the social and cultural empowerment of Meskhetian Turks, who mostly live in rural areas and try to preserve and keep alive their language, traditions, and cultural characteristics.