Let's Talk Turkey

Some weeks ago VFTD posted--nearly in its entirety--an email from a Turkish paintball player regarding Turkish paintball and the MS's Sarsilmaz Cup event. Given that the Millennium kids (as the top Euro promoters) were aligning themselves with a Turkish armaments company and all.
The attached email is posted with permission and offers a different take on the circumstances of Turkish paintball. VFTD is happy to post different viewpoints and allow y'all to decide for yourselves what you think about all things competitive paintball. While one might reasonably applaud the assistance of the federation in supporting Turkish paintball the bigger picture remains a concern here at VFTD, and the direct association of paintball markers with real guns problematic, perhaps not in Turkey but certainly elsewhere in the wide world of paintball.

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Hi Baca

First of all sorry for my lazzy english as my native language is Turkish It is possible for me to make some grammatical mistakes :)

I just want to give you some information about Turkish paintball community and what Turkish federation did for the paintball in Turkey.. You published someone's letter about federation and paintball in Turkey. First of all this anonymous person was right. There is no Turkish paintball federation in Turkey. However paintball is one the major branch of Turkish Shooting Federation. Your anonymous writer claimed that paintball community had to listen their parent federation. This is totally wrong and this man tried to cheat you about this issue. Let me explain the historical background of Paintball in Turkey..
In 2003 there is only 2 team in Turkey this is total amount for scenario teams and speedball teams. In 2006 we have still 4 teams. However after federation involved to the community the number of teams has dramatically increased and now we have 20+ active team and 5 of them play at international tournament.. Last year Team PSX won 2 event in centurio and finished 3rd place in total at Div2. This year Team Noname leading the M5 division after 3 tournament, and team Joker is in the 7nd place in division 2.
Federation organize TPL (Turkish paintball league) and they distribute paintballs for free. Teams didn't pay for paintball and they can use unlimited amount of paintball. Federation distributed almost 2000 boxes of paintball in a season. With the help of federation we organized Oliver Lang clinic again for free. Everything is free included food, paints, etc. And this season also federation give 5 boxes of paintball to each team at each tournament. And also federation cover the expenses of top three teams of TPL at the international tournaments.
So it is impossible for me to accept the critics of this anonymous person. Federation did great things. they spend big amount of money aprrx. 400 000 Euro( this including almost 3000 boxes of paintball, brand new compressor, millennium supair set, refs expenses, Oliver lang clinic, Ulrich stahr ref clinic etc etc.
We are very excited about millennium series Antalya event and I'm sure that, this will be one of the greatest tournament ever. I know that plane ticket are expensive but I guarantee that this will worth every money you pay. Hotel is great, field is great. With the all inclusive concept you drink, you eat as much as you can.
When it comes to name issue. As you mentioned before Sarsilmaz is the biggest financial supporter of federation and also owner of the company is also head of the federation. This person support financially paintball and also last event of millennium will be held at Antalya with the help of him. So there is nothing wrong here. Federation decide to call this event "Sarsilmaz" to honor him because of his support.
As you mentioned before NPPL sponsored by US army. Paintball is a new sport in world. Even pro players suffered from lackage of sponsorship.. I mean paintball need money and if those kind of guys want to sponsor paintball in this way or other, we couldn't refuse them.
I'm not here to convience you about this issue. My problem is; this guy tried to cheat paintball community by using your popularity and solemnity.
Everybody claimed that they want to spread paintball everywhere, but when it come to real everybody started to criticize. Don't be malicious and give us one chance to change your believe about this community. Antalya will be the only event where european team and asian teams compete against each other. So please ignore the politics and enjoy this opportunity.

Turgay Balkan
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