"}\n\nBrandishing their javelins and letting out a bloodcurdling war cry, the Ottoman horsemen charge at a thunderous gallop. Suddenly one is hit and thrown from his horse \u2013 making dozens of children gasp as they film the scene on their smartphones.
It may be 2017, but Istanbul rolled back the years last weekend with the Ethnic Sports Cultural Festival (EKF), which aims to promote the sports practised by modern Turks\u2019 ancestors \u2013 from the nomadic horsemen of Central Asia to the Janissaries, the elite troops of the Ottoman empire.
More than 800 athletes took part in traditional sports from Anatolia and Central Asia which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s government wants to develop to celebrate the glory days of Turkey\u2019s past.
\u201cWe want to revive our traditional values, beginning with our sports, in order to move forward with these values,\u201d Bilal Erdogan, one of the president\u2019s sons and an archery fan who is also EKF\u2019s sponsor, told AFP.
A huge area on the European side of Istanbul usually used for political rallies was transformed into an Ottoman encampment for the four-day event.
Wrestlers, archers and riders showed off their skills in between traditional cooking workshops, Central Asian dancing and carpet-weaving.
Turkish Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic promised the government would provide further financial support to develop such activities and suggested it would encourage clubs to show more interest in traditional sports.
Traditional Turkish wrestling champion Sadi Bakir \u2013 bare-chested and covered in oil \u2013 said \u201cinterest in the sport has increased in recent times and the state is investing more effort in this field\u201d.
As a result, he said, \u201cat the last European (wrestling) championships, we won five gold medals. The past power of the Turks is re-emerging.\u201d
Yakup, a traditional archery instructor, also said interest in the discipline has exploded. \u201cWe have over 1,000 members\u201d in his archery club, he said as he put arrows in a leather quiver.
For the master archer, young people\u2019s enthusiasm comes mainly from television series about the Ottoman sultans which have multiplied in the past few years.