year's Kırkpınar and the main sponsor of the event. When in 1928 an economic depression hit Turkey and no agha could be found, Selim Sırrı Tarcan made the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) and the Institute of Child Care (Çocuk Esirgeme Kurumu) responsible for the organization and hosting of the guests. In the olden days of the event, an agha was able to stop a match, disqualify wrestlers if necessary, and even cancel the wrestling events altogether. Today, the organizing committee makes such decisions. The Red Crescent and the Institute of Child Care would organize the Edirne Kırkpınar for 36 years, after which the task of organizing the event was assigned to the municipality of Edirne. Edirne Kırkpınar municipality service In 1964, the mayor of Edirne, Tahsin Sipka, signed an act making the Edirne Municipality responsible for the organization of the Edirne Kırkpınar. That same year, Mayor Sipka made the Edirne Kırkpınar a municipal service. During a year, about 300 different oil-wrestling games are held in Turkey. They host an average of ten million spectators. Introduction of time Until 1975, there was no time-limit for wrestling in Kırkpınar. The pehlivans would sometimes wrestle one or two days, until they could establish superiority over their foes. Wrestling games would last from 9am until dusk and matches without a winner would continue the next day. After 1975, wrestling was limited to 40 minutes in the başpehlivan category. If there is no winner within these limits, the pehlivans wrestle for 15 more minutes with scores recorded. Those who score the most points in this last period are accepted as the winners. In other categories, the wrestling time is limited to 30 minutes. If there is no winner, ten minutes of scored wrestling follows. Federation On 20 June 1996, the Turkish Federation of Traditional Sport Branches (Geleneksel Spor Dallari Federasyonu) was founded by the Turkish Ministry. Riding, oil-wrestling, aba-wrestling and other traditional sports were assembled in the same federation under Alper Yazoğlu. Oil-wrestling inroads in Amsterdam During the 636th annual Kırkpınar of Edirne, Agha (mc) Hüseyin Sahin agreed with Veyis Güngör, the chairman of Türkevi Amsterdam, and Mohamed el-Fers (MokumTV Amsterdam) that they would unite their forces to promote traditional oil-wrestling in Europe and the world. For three days El-Fers filmed almost every match. On 4 September 1996, MokumTV started a weekly program on the A1 Amsterdam channel, presenting this highly aesthetic "mother of all