ABSTRACT

Sports, towards the end of the late 1830’s with the Tanzimat has entered into the Ottoman Empire. In the process of modernization during the Tanzimat period, in law, education, literature, politics and also in Sports changes occured. Modern sports entered the country in the era of Tanzimat. After the establishment of the republic, sports directly came under the control of the state. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s word “healthy mind in a healthy body” has been quite impressive on the revolutionary leaders of the state and has been worked intensively to create a powerful and fit youth. According to the Republic’s philosophy sports is identical with the civilization. The leaders of the new Republic showed their citizens western type of healthy nutrition, physical activities which was made by the healthy citizens of western highly developed countries. During the Ottoman period sports was only a hobby of elites, but after the revolution under the supervision of the state has been spread from villages to cities and became an important part of the education system.