Sports Culture and Sports in Turkey

Sports culture indicates all kinds of morals, products, and behavior. This study aims to argue sports as a cultural element and its appearence in Turkey. This is a descriptive study based on theoretical argument. It is periodic since it is limited to a given term and it is also relied upon literature review. People's adaptations to living conditions are related to culture. We can specify this, “all the patterns of living and behavior which are special to small units within a large and structurally developed society.” (Erdemli, 2002)In Turkey; it’s more accurate to say that, it’s understood football when you think about sports and sport culture is football culture. This condition can not only induce cultural diversity and wealth but it also leads to a transformation into a society who likes watching sports, talking about sports (saying more precisely football) rather than doing sports. Sport magazine has surpassed the sport itself. Representation of sport in media does not make a favorable contribution. Sport media invites violence with its manner of representation of news by acting with the concerns of rating and curcilation although they, at every turn, declare that they are against violence. Discourses which include violence, nationalism, sexism, and slang has increased in media as an extensive research also suggested (Talimciler, 2003).Culture, is a phenomenon which is considerably about quality and accumulation. Processes are as important as results; sometimes even more. In this sense sport is much more than the score. In a country, a sport branch can be attracting more attention than the other ones; however, Limiting sports to football, also limiting football to several football clubs, and ignoring many of sports branches, those who are interested in them, and who are amateurs is an unfair and reductive approach. On the other hand; sports opportunities could not be created for millions of young and adult people in our country, sports could not be generalized with principle of equal opportunity. Such that; with the influence of urbanization and technological development, sedentary lifestyle has come up as a common and serious public health problem.We should reorganize our relationship with sport and priorities related to it in accordance with what should be rather than with existing situation. We should constitute our sport philosophy and policy according to scientific principles and reconstitute our sport education in the same way.