10 foundational pillars that make Alpagut unique among martial arts: Gök Tengri philosophy, steppe culture, traditional Chapan attire, ancient terminology, and more.
Rules, numbers and names you can check — not slogans.
Alpagut is a modern martial art and sport system built on the military and moral heritage of the Turkic steppe. Every point below is taken from the canon of the art or the official competition rules.
Four structural features, each one written into the rules of the art.
Alpagut is not a single competition format. Five systems are governed within one Alpagut framework; each has its own purpose, its own permitted and prohibited techniques, and its own scoring criteria.
The bout is held in a round arena, and the arena is no passive backdrop — it actively shapes the mechanics of the fight. The two circles are not named at random: BÖRÜ is the circle of close, decisive struggle, BERKUT the circle of wide manoeuvre and the view from above. One minute in BÖRÜ, one minute in BERKUT — then back to BÖRÜ.
The sequence of the nine yöndəm is not arbitrary — it follows the student's path: from long-range striking (KOL, TEPIK) to the bridge (AYCHA), then throws and sweeps, then close and ground work. The eighth — KORUY — works at every range, and the ninth is the weapons base.
The official uses four cards. Three award points and combine step by step into higher-value scores; the fourth is a penalty. A bout is won on accumulated points, or ended outright.
In Alpagut a grade is not «show the technique and take the belt». Technique, fighting, theory, culture, conduct, physical condition and time are measured together.
The ten SAN grades rest on four titles: YARĞAN, TEGİN, ŞAD, YABGU. All four are recorded as Turkic state titles in the Orkhon-Yenisei inscriptions, in the Divanu Lugat-it-Turk and in the Kutadgu Bilig; together with the qualifiers KÜR and TUN they form the ten steps. The lower steps are built from words attested in those same monuments by classical Turkic compounding: BUYRUK (an officer serving the kagan) + ALP = BUYRUKALP.
Alpagut does not treat combat as purely physical — it tests character as well. Technique and conduct are not taught separately: to throw without humiliating an opponent, to apply a choke and know when to release, to handle a weapon responsibly — all are part of the same training.
The athlete competes in the CHAPAN: black jacket, cream trousers; corners are marked ÇORO (blue) and YORO (red). The chapan was historically the traditional outer garment of Turkic peoples, warriors among them.
The core technical, competition and philosophical concepts are used with the same terms in every country: SINAYCHI, DENGE, TÖRÄ, ÖZEK, KORGAN, SARGUT. The same terms are used in Baku and Bursa.
The official who conducts a bout is not called a judge but a SINAYCHI — literally, «one who tests». The role carries five grades of its own (ELKIN, TOLU, BILGE, ATAMAN, ULUJA), each with its own licence period and attestation.
A BÖLÜK links three fighters and one reserve to a single team result. In an individual bout the athlete stands for themselves; in BÖLÜK they stand for the people they represent.
Every rule on this page comes from the canon of the art and the official competition rules of the World Alpagut Federation. Both are public.
World Alpagut Federation — international governing body for the sport of Alpagut, established 2014, present in 50+ countries.