WSF Honorary President Hakkı Koşar

He was born on December 8, 1943 in Istanbul.

After completing Kadıköy İkbaliye primary school, he completed his secondary and high school education at Kuleli Military High School.

Koşar, who entered Kuleli in 1956, graduated in 1962.

While he was in high school, he competed on the athletics team in the 100-meter, 200-meter and long jump events and became the Turkish military high school single-step champion in 1962.

While at the Military Academy in 1962, he took part in the judo and close defense team that competed against the Shah of Iran.

In 1963, due to the 21 May Talat Aydemir events, he left and studied for three years in the Department of Advanced Journalism at Istanbul University's Faculty of Economics.

He worked as a police and court reporter for Cumhuriyet newspaper for 2 years.

Koşar, who was a member of the university's Judo team, wore the Crescent Star jersey for many years, taking part in the Judo National Team.

Türkiye was first introduced to Karate Do by Hakkı Koşar in 1965, with the course he opened at Kadıköy Özdemiroğlu Primary School.

Until that day, he completed his studies with the kyu (student) books, the tourists who came to Türkiye and the education he received from Walter Haim in Frankfurt in 1967; he started his first lessons with Judo by teaching his students at the American Preparatory School in Sultanahmet.

He trained thousands of athletes, coaches and referees through the various clubs and associations he founded.

Interestingly, Koşar, who had been the first in the 63 kg weight class in the inter-university Judo championships for many years, became the Turkish Heavyweight Champion in the 58 kg weight class in the Turkish Judo Championship held in the Sports Exhibition Center, which is today known as the Lütfü Kırdar, in 1969. While there were 63, 70, 80, 93 and Heavyweight categories, Koşar became the Turkish Heavyweight Champion.

While there was no Karate Federation in Türkiye, he received his black belt first dan diploma from European Karate Technical Director Basile Avgusto in Italy in 1969.

In 1970, he continued his studies in Shotokan style in the JKA organization with Taiji Kase Sensei.

He became an international referee in 1975 and served as a Category A referee in the World Championships in Japan, Germany, and Egypt, and twelve times as a European Amateur Karate Federation (EAKF) European Championships.

In 1979, he was appointed a member of the EAKF's technical committee.

In 1985, Hakkı Koşar was elected president of the EAKF's technical committee. (He is the second person to be elected as a technical committee president in Europe, after Vehbi Emre in wrestling.)

In 1980, with the support of retired Colonel Cihat Uskan, Hakkı Koşar successfully integrated Karate into the existing Judo and Taekwondo Federation. Karate, which was associated with the Judo Federation for 10 years, became an independent Karate-do Federation in 1990.

Hakkı Koşar was appointed the federation's first president.

Hakkı Koşar, who left the federation presidency in 1992, continued his activities in joint works with ITKF and ITFKF organizations and in European and World Championships there, and he currently serves on the technical committee and referee committee of the International Traditional Fudokan-Shotokan Karate Federation (ITFSKF).

Having a 3rd dan in judo and an 8th dan in karate, he has trained for 4 years at the Naval Academy, 1 year at the Tuzla Infantry School, 2 years at the Kuleli Military High School, and 2 years at the Gölcük Naval Command. Since 1972, he has trained thousands of athletes as an instructor at schools such as the Kemalettin Eröge Police School, the Florya Police Training Center, the Şükrü Balcı Police Vocational School, the Middle East Technical University, and Boğaziçi University.

Koşar, who continues his work at the center, which has completed 35 years at Moda Street number 111, continues to train athletes with his daughters Melek, Meltem, Şebnem, Banu and Reyhan Sensei.

Hakkı Koşar's five grandchildren, Ümra, Emre, Yasemin, Sena and Beyza, do karate like their grandfather, but his daughter Burcu, who lives in Switzerland, and his grandchildren Furkan and Berkan are the ones in the family who do not do karate.

Koşar, who dedicated his life to the art of Karate-Do, is Türkiye's first female athlete with a 3rd-dan black belt in karate and a 1st-dan black belt in judo. He was the Karate Federation's first Central Referee Committee president and holds a national referee license.