What Is Alpagut?

Alpagut is not an ancient system that survived unchanged. It is a modern reconstruction. The fighting methods, military customs and moral codes of the Turkic world were studied from historical sources and brought together into one system, with its own techniques, terminology, grades and competition rules.

Selecting, adapting and combining fighting techniques into a single system is nothing new in history. Ancient Pankration was a complex combat system that combined striking and wrestling techniques; its modern form has been re-systematized on the basis of new sporting rules and safety standards. In the same way, modern combat systems such as Judo, SAMBO, Taekwondo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu took their present form through the selection, adaptation and standardization of earlier schools, techniques and practices. Alpagut says so openly. It does not claim an unbroken line from antiquity; its standing rests on how carefully it was built and on how it is practised today.

Sources: J. Arvanitis, Pankration: The Traditional Greek Combat Sport and Modern Mixed Martial Art (Boulder: Paladin Press, 2003) · S. Inoue, “The Invention of the Martial Arts: Kanō Jigorō and Kōdōkan Judo”, in Mirror of Modernity: Invented Traditions of Modern Japan, ed. S. Vlastos (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), pp. 163–173 · International SAMBO Federation (FIAS), “History of SAMBO”, sambo.sport · U. Moenig, Cho Sungkyun and Kwak Taek-Yong, “Evidence of Taekwondo’s Roots in Karate: An Analysis of the Technical Content of Early Taekwondo Literature”, Korea Journal 54, no. 2 (2014), pp. 150–178 · J. Cairus, “Modernization, Nationalism and the Elite: The Genesis of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, 1905–1920”, Revista Tempo e Argumento 3, no. 2 (2011), pp. 100–121.

Mahmud al-Kashgari wrote his dictionary of the Turkic languages in the eleventh century, after travelling among the Turkic tribes and recording their speech. For him an alpağut was a warrior of personal courage and resolve: a man who could act on his own and would not retreat.

The word is older than the dictionary. It already appears in the stone inscriptions of the eighth century. The Kül Tegin inscription of 732 names alpagu on er, the ten elite warriors of the Tongra tribe.

Alpagut was built to gather the combat heritage of the Turkic world into one modern sport that joins striking, defence and throws. It does not replace the traditional wrestling styles of the Turkic peoples; it stands beside them.

Its founder is Vasif Namazov. In Alpagut he holds the title KUTSAN, which belongs to the founder alone. Before creating the system he spent two decades as an athlete and coach in combat sports, and in 2008 he began a systematic study of Turkic military tradition and its sources. In 2014 he gave the new system its name, Alpagut Turan Martial Art, and presented it in Baku.

The federation itself is a legal entity registered in Georgia. Three documents issued by state bodies of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the founder, Vasif Namazov, cover the name Alpagut Turan, its emblem and the written work that sets out the art.

The results of the World Championships are kept in the results archive.

The General Assembly is the federation’s supreme authority, with one vote per country. It elects the President and the Board of Directors. The Board supervises, and the Executive Committee, chaired by the President, runs the federation day to day.

WAF is not a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code. The federation follows anti-doping rules and is preparing to become a Code Signatory. An independent Ethics Committee, a Safeguarding Policy that protects minors and vulnerable participants, and a Gender Equality and Inclusion Policy are part of the federation’s integrity framework. Once internal remedies are exhausted, disputes with international effect can be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.

These documents belong to the 2026 edition, which will go before the General Assembly for ratification on 3 December. The Statutes, the Official Competition Regulations and the codes on ethics, discipline, anti-doping and safeguarding are public; the terminology, grading and licensing documents are available to members. Open the Document Library →