YKSEKOVA, Turkey - Kurds living in the Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey (Bakur) enjoy playing a traditional baseball game known as "holane" or "topa garane" at this time of the year.
The game is primarily played in the Kurdish provinces of Van, Sirnak, and Hakkari provinces. It brings the young and old together and it is played by two teams of ten players on a football pitch with a stick and a ball made of horsehair.
"Holane is played with balls, each team has 20 players... the name of the ball is holane. One player throws the ball in the air, and the other hit the ball with the stick. Players of both teams then compete with each other to reach the target first and get the ball,” coach Saadullah Ozdil told Rudaw’s Shawkat Harki on Monday.
“Every person has the right to throw the holane. In this way, one team wins against another team. It is a beautiful Kurdish story," he added.
It has been passed on to the people by their ancestors.
Locals say the game has been played in the area for hundreds of years.
There are many different traditional Kurdish games that are played in groups.
