By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp
ANKARA (AA) - Humanity needs the principles of peace, solidarity, respect and tradition, which the confederation has undertaken and built on its fields of activity, more and more every day, according to the World Ethnosport Confederation (WEC) President Bilal Erdogan.
"We must be aware of our forgotten values that can bring humanity together in world situations like today and act together," Bilal Erdogan said in his opening speech of the 5th Ethnosport Forum, which was held in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, and hosted 140 participants from 45 countries on March 5-6.
He also stressed the great importance to preserve values of humanity and carrying them to future generations, saying, "It has become inevitable to cooperate and unite, in order to remove all kinds of sports, culture, tradition and art, which bring people together and take human beings and then all living things, from the dusty pages where they are fading into oblivion and apply to our lives."
The forum procured high-level participation, including the World Ethnosport Confederation (WEC) President Bilal Erdogan, Minister of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan Ferid Gayibov, Minister of Youth and Sports of Turkey Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoglu, Minister of Sports of Nigeria Adamou Sekou, National Minister of Physical Culture and Sport of Mexico Ana Gabriela Guevara Espinoza, Minister of Sports of Gambia Bakary Y. Badjie, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Program Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Secretary General of the Organization of Turkish States Baghdad Amreyev, also the deputy ministers of sports of Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon.
The forum continued with a communication panel, in which communication strategies of traditional sports were discussed.
The Minister of Youth and Sports of Turkey Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoglu, in a statement to the press after the panel, said that traditional sports are on a rapid rise and their popularity is increasing day by day.
Inviting everyone who is interested in the World Nomad Games in northwestern Turkish city Iznik on September 2022, Kasapoglu said, "There is a great potential. As we join hands and strengthen unity and brotherhood in accordance with the spirit of sports, I believe we will raise the bar in traditional sports branches."