The initiative to organize the World Nomad Games with the motivation to revive, develop and preserve traditional games of the Turkic peoples was initially approved by the Heads of State at the 2nd Summit of the Turkic Council held in Bishkek in 2012 and the first three Games were organized by the Kyrgyz Republic respectively in 2014, 2016 and 2018.
At the 6th Summit of the Turkic Council in Cholpon-Ata in 2018, which was held simultaneously with the 3rd World Nomad Games; it was decided that the 4th World Nomad Games will be staged in Turkey in 2020.
Despite all the preparations undertaken by Turkey in collaboration with the Member States and the Turkic Council Secretariat, the Fourth Nomad Games was postponed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The First Coordination Committee Meeting for the preparations of the said Games was held in hybrid format on 19 November 2020 in İstanbul, with the participation of delegations from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Hungary, as well as the representatives of the Turkic Council and the World Ethnosport Confederation. Delegations from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan attended the meeting online due to the pandemic conditions.
At the meeting, the Regulation which determines the procedures, principles and rules of the Games was discussed; fruitful consultations and negotiations were held with the contributions of the representatives of the Member and Observer States to brand the Games as an institutional and sustainable setup.
Based on the principles of tradition, respect, peace and solidarity, the Fourth World Nomad Games was agreed to be held in İznik, Bursa in October 2021 with the highest representation from the Member and Observer States, as well as wide participation from all over the world.
