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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Diyarbakır MP Garo Paylan has announced that a tournament will be named after Garbis Zakaryan, who was known as the "Iron Fist" and was the first professional boxer of Turkey.
Born in June 1930, Garbis Zakaryan, a boxing champion of Armenian descent, lost his life on January 25, 2020.
Following his passing, HDP MP Paylan addressed a Parliamentary question to Minister of Youth and Sports Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu on January 29 and asked him "whether they had any projects to honor his achievements and contributions to the sports in Turkey and to keep his name alive and whether a sports facility would be named after him or not."
Replying the question of Paylan, Minister Kasapoğlu has indicated that a tournament will be named after Garbis Zakaryan while they are still considering whether to name a sports facility after him or not.
'We are still expecting a sports facility to be named after him'
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"Unfortunately, no steps have been taken to honor the successes of our national boxer Garbis Zakaryan, who achieved national and international successes all through his life and played in Beyoğlu, Taksim and Galatasaray clubs," Paylan has said about the issue and added:
"While a sports hall has been named after Cemal Kamacı, whom he coached, the name of Garbis Zakaryan, remembered as a 'legend', has been given to neither a sports hall nor a sports facility.
"Addressing a Parliamentary question to Minister of Youth and Sports, we asked whether they had any projects to honor Garbis Zakaryan's achievements and contributions to the sports in Turkey and to keep his name alive and whether a sports facility would be named after him or not.
"In the answer given to our question with the signature of Minister of Youth and Sports Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu, it has been indicated that they have agreed to name a tournament after Garbis Zakaryan while they are still considering whether to name a sports facility after him or not.
"We welcome the news that a tournament will be named after Garbis Zakaryan, also known to have faced discrimination in his life in sports.
"We are still expecting that our national boxer, whose achievements were not honored when he was alive, will be given his well-deserved value, albeit too late, and a sports facility will be named after him with the aim of introducing him to the next generations."
About Garbis ZakaryanGarbis Zakaryan (Armenian: Կարբիս Զաքարյան), (June 2, 1930 – January 25, 2020) was a welterweight boxing champion of Armenian origin in Turkey and Europe. He was the first professional boxer in Turkey. He was nicknamed "Demir Yumruk" (Iron Fist). He began his boxing career in 1944 at the Boğaziçi Turnuvası (Bosporus Tournament). He became the Istanbul and Turkey champion at 48 kg in 1947 and 1948. He then represented the Turkish National Team for the first time in 1949 against Spain. He became the first professional boxer of Turkey in 1951. Zakaryan retired in 1966. He then worked as a boxing trainer including European champion, Cemal Kamaci. Zakaryan went on to lose his European champion title in March 1957. He was Middle-East champion in 1964. * Source: Wikipedia |
(EMK/SD)
