Friday April 7 7:52 AM ET

'Oil Wrestlers' Do Not Want Gays Watching

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's oil wrestlers -- burly men who cover themselves in olive oil and grapple with each other wearing leather trousers -- are trying to stop a group of homosexuals coming to watch.

A group calling themselves Bears of Turkey is advertising on the Internet for a tour to watch the 639th Kirkpinar oil wrestling championships to be held on July 1 and 2 near Turkey's northwestern city of Edirne.

``It's immoral,'' Anatolian news agency quoted Traditional Sports Federation Chairman Alper Yazoglu as saying. ``We are trying every way to have this stopped...We shall pass this matter on to the interior, foreign and other ministries to ask for this disgusting business to be stopped.''

The sport of oil wrestling dates back to the Turks' exodus from Central Asia in the middle ages.

The wrestlers, their muscles rippling in olive oil under the hot sun, try to pin each other to the ground. Putting a hand down the opponent's trousers to get a better grip is a common tactic.

Homosexuality is not banned in overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey, and several big cities have thriving gay scenes, but police harassment is frequent and the issue is generally considered taboo.