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1. National strategy(ies)

2. Promoting and supporting sport and physical activity among young people

3. Physical education in schools

4. Collaboration and partnerships

National strategy(ies)

The most fundamental and binding document regarding the sports policies in Türkiye is The National Youth and Sports Policy Document (Gençlik ve Spor Politikası Belgesi). According to this document, the vision of Türkiye's sports policies consists in making Türkiye a leading country in sports of all sort by establishing a dynamic and innovative culture which will promote and award perfection and engagement in sports, ensuring that all citizens have regular physical activity habits within the approach of “sports for everyone”, developing the well-being and socio-economic levels of the individual and society by means of sports, discovering talented children and young people and raising and supporting them as elite athletes, providing necessary and sufficient support to amateur branches. The sports policy of Türkiye has been designed mainly to serve the purposes of a healthy life and its main objectives are as follows:

• To provide the extension of sports in the all sections of the society,
• To raise healthy generations by promoting the participation of people from all ages in sports activities,
• To take necessary measures in order to prevent violence and unethical behaviors in sports,
• To support amateur sports branches,
• To ensure that institutions and organizations providing services and activities in the field of sports work in coordination and cooperation,
• To determine the inventory and need of sports facilities and to extend facilities to the country-wide scale in a planned way.

In The National Youth and Sports Policy Document (Ulusal Gençlik ve Spor Politikası Belgesi), under the main policy area namely Sports for All, the following policy goals have been defined:

• Developing and extending sports in the education and training institutions.
• Extending lifelong sports habits.
• Having an audience culture.

In The National Youth and Sports Policy Document (Ulusal Gençlik ve Spor Politikası Belgesi), it is stated that as sports is a means of enabling disadvantaged people to take their places in society, to socialize and integrate into the society and to improve their quality of life, the efficiency and number of existing practices should be increased by developing regulations and policies to support the participation of disabled people in sports activities. Accordingly, a policy area namely “Disadvantaged People and Sports” has been defined and the following policy measures have been taken in the context of this policy:

1. Accommodating sports facilities for the access of disadvantaged people.
2. Conducting studies in order to increase the athletic performance of disadvantaged people.
3. Carrying out activities for disadvantaged people in educational institutions.
4. Rehabilitation of disadvantaged people through sports.

In The National Youth and Sports Policy Document (Ulusal Gençlik ve Spor Politikası Belgesi), under the policy area namely “Health and Environment”, certain policies and targets to ensure and improve youth health have been defined. The related policy measures are as follows:

• Extending the measures for the protection of young people from harmful habits such as smoking, drug addiction, alcohol etc.
• Increasing measures for the protection of youth health.

In the 12th Development Plan, the following policies have been determined in terms of the relationship between sports and physical activity and health:

• Sports activities will be made widespread in order to contribute to the recovery and development processes of disabled individuals.

• Regular participation of citizens of all ages in sports activities will be encouraged

• Sports opportunities will be developed at the local level, sports education will be provided from an early age, and regular participation of citizens of all ages in sports activities will be encouraged.

• In cooperation with all stakeholders, especially local governments, citizens' interest in sports will be increased, and projects and campaigns themed on sports and recreation for health will be developed.

• Athlete health centers will be expanded by increasing service quality and diversity, and the need for sports physicians will be met.

   

Promoting and supporting sport and physical activity among young people

The Directorate General of Sports under the Ministry of Youth and Sports is the most important public institution in the field of sports. The Law on the Organization and Duties of the Directorate General of Sports (Spor Genel Müdürlüğünün Teşkilat ve Görevleri Hakkında Kanun) sets forth the duties of the Directorate General of Sports for supporting sports and physical activity among young people as follows:

• Management and administration of physical training, games, gymnastics and sports activities providing physical and moral power and skills to the general society and out-of-school youth,
• Programming the sports activities of all educational institutions under the Ministry of National Education at home and abroad, setting the principles of physical training and sports activities,
• Programming, organizing, managing and ensuring the improvement of out-of-school scouting and sports activities; raising sports administrators, trainers, monitors, sports staff and referees, and training and increasing their number; establishing training centers,
• Providing the fields, facilities and materials required for physical training and sports activities, and having them provided; operating these facilities and offering them to the service of society,
• Taking the related measures about the health of athletes, opening health centers for athletes and having them opened, operating these centers and assisting their operation, insuring the athletes and having them insured,
• Issuing documents to increase the technical information and interest in the field of physical training and sports, and carrying out related activities,
• In order to enable disabled people to take part in sports activities and to do it in widespread manner; making the sports facilities appropriate for the use of disabled people as well, developing sports training programs and supportive technologies, providing the required materials, carrying out informative and awareness-raising activities and issuing documents about the issue, raising sportsmen, and cooperating with other relevant institutions to let the disabled people be involved in sports activities.

With a view to enabling people to adopt the habit of regular sports as as to make sports a lifestyle, the Directorate General of Sports carries out the below-listed projects in order to encourage young people to do sports, to make them love sports, develop a sports culture, and extending sports to a wider population.

"Streets are Ours" Project (Sokaklar Bizim Projesi): To spread sports to all segments of society, to contribute to the development of sports all over the country, and to increase the awareness of sports branches. In order not to leave especially children and young people alone against the dangers of the streets, to support their physical and mental health, to revive the neighborhood culture of our country and to provide opportunities for individuals to do sports, sportive activities are carried out in 3x3 Street Basketball and 5x5 Mini Football sports branches in the activity program of Provincial Directorates of Youth and Sports throughout the year. Within the scope of the project, 81,347 citizens have been reached with 3x3 Street Basketball and 950 people have participated in 5x5 Mini Football activities, which started in 2024. 

"Sultans of Home" Project (Evinin Sultanları Projesi): The project is implemented in order to spread sports to all segments of the society and to provide opportunities for housewives, professional women in working life, their children and especially girls to do sports. Through the project, active participation of women in sports is ensured. In addition, by giving housewives or working women with children, especially girls, the opportunity to do sports with their children, children are provided with the opportunity to take their mothers as role models, while at the same time intergenerational rapprochement is ensured. The project was launched in 2019 and 84,120 people have participated so far. In addition, the project organizes a nationwide tournament every year on March 8, International Women's Day. 7,267 women and young girls participated in the March 8, International Women's Day Volleyball Tournament held in 2024.

"Happy Wednesday" Project (Mutlu Çarşamba Projesi): The aim of the project is to enable individuals with special needs and all disabled people and their families to do sports, to strengthen their ties with the society through sports, to move away from the feeling of exclusion and to enable them to do sports for a healthy life. The main goal of the project is to increase the physical mobility of the participants. In 2019, 50,768 people participated in sports within the scope of the project.

MoYS Sports Schools Project (GSB Spor Okulları Projesi): The aim of the project is to encourage children and young people in the 3-18 age group to love sports, to direct them to sports, to create athlete resources for sports clubs, to create a sports culture in society, to ensure that participants specialize in at least one sport and to spread sports to a wider audience. Athletic children and young people who stand out with their talents are directed to the Anatolian Stars League and School Sports activities. In 2023, 1,267,007 people participated in the project.

"Run While You Can" Project (Koşabiliyorken Koş Projesi): With the "Run While You Can" covering all provinces and districts across Türkiye it is aimed to popularize sports culture in Türkiye, to promote healthy and conscious sports for all individuals of all ages by coaches, to introduce different sports branches as leisure time activities, and to contribute to protecting and improving public health by giving individuals the habit of doing sports for a healthy life. 1,109,160 people participated in the project in 2023.

"Let there be no one who cannot swim" Project (Yüzme Bilmeyen Kalmasın Projesi): This project aims to attract the public and young people to regular physical education and sports, to promote a healthy lifestyle at various ages, to prevent drowning cases in lakes, rivers and seas during the summer months, to contribute to the social skills of young people and to increase their swimming skills. Anyone who is at least 5 years old, male, female, disabled, young, old and healthy can participate in the project. Since the start of the project in 2018, 8,112,542 people have benefited from the project and most of them are young people. This project, which also targets young people, supports the culture of cooperation and solidarity by creating community spaces among young people.

Anatolian Stars League Project: Anatolian Stars League is the name of the organization organized by the Provincial Directorates under the coordination of the General Directorate of Sports Services in order to provide athletes participating in sports activities for young people in age groups in various sports branches with the aim of providing more competition opportunities and improving their performances, where provincial teams compete in the relevant sports branch representing their provinces. The organization, which started to be made in 10 sports branches in the 2013 - 2014 season, was realized in 27 sports branches in 2023. Young athletes, coaches and administrators participating in the competitions were accommodated free of charge in dormitories in the provinces where the competitions were organized, and historical and touristic trips were organized under the name of "Culture Day" activities, giving the participants the opportunity to get to know different cities and cultures. In 2024, the Anatolian Stars League competitions, of which interest is increasing day by day, are planned to be organized in a total of 33 sports branches affiliated to 26 sports federations.

During the pandemics, from the beginning of April 2020, Ministry of Youth and Sport of Türkiye has launched a campaign titled as "Stay at home, don't stay inactive" in order to promote physical exercise and healthlife styles at home. Within the framework of this campaign Ministry of Youth and Sports and several municipalities have prepared videos demonstrating the possibilities of sports and physical exercise at home. 

Physical education in schools

According to the curriculum announced by the Ministry of National Education, the following is taught as compulsory lessons at schools: Games and Physical Activities at the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th grades in primary education; Physical Training and Sports at the 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th  grades in secondary education; and Physical Training and Sports at the 9^th, 10^th, 11^th and 12^th grades in high school. 

In accordance with the decision of the Ministry of National Education Board of Education and Instruction, students can choose the Sports Education course for 3 years under the title of Culture, Arts and Sports in the Vocational and Technical Anatolian High Schools Framework Curriculum and Weekly Course Schedule.

In addition, with the update made in the Weekly Course Schedules of Secondary Education Institutions, the Sports Education course has been taught as an elective course at all grade levels since the 2023-2024 academic year. In the Sports Education course, weightlifting, swimming, wrestling, skiing, tennis, table tennis, badminton, orienteering, fencing, cycling, archery, judo, karate, boxing and taekwondo from individual sports and basketball, volleyball, football and handball from team sports are taught. Students can choose one of the sub-branches of individual or team sports in the Sports Education course.

The aim of Physical Training and Sports lesson is to prepare students for the next level of education by also improving their movement skills; skills, concepts and strategies for an active and healthy life; self-management skills; social skills; and thinking skills, which they will use throughout their lives, in line with the General Objectives and Basic Principles of the Turkish National Education as defined in the Basic Law on National Education (Millî Eğitim Temel Kanunu) numbered 1739.

In line with this aim, the students receiving Physical Training and Sports lesson are expected to achieve the following program outputs:

1. They build movement skills specific to various physical activities and sports.

2. They use movement concepts and principles in various physical activities and sports.

3. They use movement strategies and tactics in various physical activities and sports.

4. They can explain the concepts and principles related to physical activities and sports for healthy life.

5. They regularly take part in physical activities and sports in order to be healthy and improve their health.

6. They have a sense of cultural accumulation and a good understanding of our values. 

7. They build self-management skills through physical education and sports.

8. They build social skills through physical education and sports.

9. They build thinking skills through physical education and sports.

In cases when students have special needs, the lessons are applied in a revised manner. Special needs may arise from various reasons such as learning disability, health problems or any kind of disabilities, as well as other reasons like having special qualifications or reaching the learning objectives in advance/earlier than their peers. Once the teachers identify the special needs of students, they enable these students to take part in applied Physical Training and Sports lessons by also getting help from relevant people and institutions if needed. To give an example, for students with health problems, methods to meet the needs of these students and support their health are adopted as a result of a cooperation between parents and family practitioners, and appropriate tools and equipment are provided so that they can participate in the lessons. Meanwhile, the students talented in sports are directed to trainers or sports clubs. Higher objectives may be set and different activities may be proposed for such students, in line with their talents and needs.

Collaboration and partnerships

Sports Project for Children and Young People Sheltered in Children's Homes (Çocuk Evlerinde Barınan Çocuk ve Gençlere Yönelik Spor Projesi): It is aimed to ensure more active participation of children receiving services from social services centers of the Ministry of Family and Social Services of the Republic of Türkiye in social life and to increase their access to high quality games, sports and physical activities. By increasing the capacity of the institutions in terms of games, physical education, sports and physical activities, it is aimed to strengthen the institution-sports-community connection, increase the self-confidence of children and young people, ensure their trust and respect, facilitate their integration into society through sports and increase sporting success. Within the scope of the project implemented in 2013, a total of 282,180 children and young people were reached by 2024.

The Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Health have jointly developed a program called “Health-Related Physical Fitness Report (Sağlıkla İlgili Fiziksel Uygunluk Karnesi)” with a view to making the students build the habit of physical activity, making them build the physical skills required to take part in physical activities, and raising individual awareness on leading an efficient and healthy lifestyle.  The program began to be implemented in the academic year of 2016-2017 (second semester) when the Physical Training and Sports teachers at the (state owned/private) secondary schools and high schools under the Ministry of National Education carried out “Health-Related Physical Fitness Measurements” and entered the related values to the “Health-Related Physical Fitness Module” in the e-school management information system between April 15 - May 15. The Health-Related Physical Fitness Report program will be carried out twice in a year by the student’s Physical Training and Sports Lesson teacher, first at the beginning of the academic year (between September 15 - October 15) and then at the end of the academic year (between April 15 - May 15). The evaluation will be made based on crunch and push-up exercises, and measurement of flexibility through sit-and-reach test, as well as the measurement of body weight and height.

The Health-Related Physical Fitness Report (Sağlıkla İlgili Fiziksel Uygunluk Karnesi) does not affect the students’ physical training and sports marks in their report cards. The relevant information about children is kept confidential and shared with the parents of each child separately. Like the other marks in the students’ report cards, the “Health-Related Physical Fitness Report” is also accessible by the parents through e-school database. Twice a year, middle and high school students are measured for height, weight and various movement tests are made. The data is recorded by Ministry of National Education and transmitted to the Ministry of Health. After statistical evaluation, a report including recommendations is sent to the Ministry of National Education.

One of the main axes of the Ministry of Health's activities is to encourage the society to lead an active life in cooperation with local governments across the country. In this context, the "Health Promoting Municipality (SAGEB) Implementation Guide" has been prepared to guide local governments in creating healthy environments, to assist them in their work for physical activity, active life and sports, and to ensure that their ongoing work is measurable. Local governments are informed about the program and SAGEB certificates are issued for municipalities that voluntarily apply to provincial health directorates by completing their preparations in line with the guide.

Through the cooperation established between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of National Education, the lists of schools, which have opened and been implementing the “bicycle” module lesson under the elective course of sports and physical activities at secondary schools, have been obtained. Accordingly, the first bicycle deliveries began on May 19, 2015, and a total of 10,589 bicycles were delivered to the schools, which opened the elective course of sports and physical activities for the 5^th, 6^th and 7^th grade students, and/or the schools, which were implementing the “bicycle module” lesson, through the protocols signed and ceremonies held.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports has been providing support to amateur sports clubs in  order to extend sports and physical activities among young people. Since 2002, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has provided a total of 143 million 156 thousand Turkish lira support and materials to 9 thousand 777 amateur sports clubs.