Turkish archery Turkish archery is a tradition of archery which became highly developed in the Ottoman Empire , although its origins date back to the Eurasian Steppe in the second millennium BC . History . From the decline of military archery after the battle of Lepanto , mainly flight archery was practiced , and Turkish bowyers specialized in weapons which were particularly good for imparting high velocity to very light arrows . The sport of archery declined gradually until the reign of Mahmud II who made great efforts to revive it . He also ordered his archery student , Mustafa Kani , to write a book about the history , construction , and use of these bows , from which comes most of what is now known of Turkish bowyery . After the death of Mahmud II in 1839 , archery resumed its decline . The living art of Turkish bowyery was lost in the 1930s with the death of the last bowyer and famous calligrapher , Neçmeddin Okyay ; it has since been revived . Equipment . Turkish Bow . The Turkish bow is a recurved composite bow used in the Ottoman Empire . The construction is similar to that of other classic Asiatic composite bows , with a wooden core ( maple was most desirable ) , animal horn on the belly ( the side facing the archer ) , and sinew on the front , with the layers secured together with Animal glue . However , several features of the Turkish bow are distinct . The curvature tends to be more extreme when the bow is unstrung , with the limbs curling forward into the shape of the letter " C " . With some bows , the rigid tips of the limbs ( " kasan " ) even touch . The grip area is not recessed like other Asianic bows and is fairly flat on the belly , while the front of the grip bulges outwards . The dramatic curvature of the bows makes stringing them very different from straighter bows found in Europe . There is an old saying in Turkey that there are " 120 ways to string a bow , " though the most common methods involve sitting on ground with one ' s feet pressed against the grip . Heavier bows usually require the use of a long , looped strap called a " kemend " to pull the limbs back and hold them while the string is seated . For many years the excellence of Turkish bows could be seen from historical records . In 1910 an archery contest was held on the beach at Le Touquet , France , where Ingo Simon was able to shoot an arrow 434 m using an old Turkish composite bow requiring a force of 440N or 99 lb . Zihgir . " Zihgir " is the Turkish word for the thumb ring used to draw the bow in the Ottoman Empire . Turkish thumb rings were made of wood , metal , ivory , bone , horn or leather . These rings signified that the person wearing them was a warrior . In time they became a symbol of prestige in Ottoman society , and some later examples have so much ornamentation on the surface from which the bowstring slides that they could not be used to shoot with . Surviving examples are often made of precious metals and richly decorated . Some are carved from precious stones . Siper and Majra . The " siper " and " majra " are devices used to draw arrows past the bow ' s front limb where the arrow would normally rest . The siper is a type of shelf strapped to the archer ' s bow hand , which allows the archer to pull the bow back to extreme lengths in order to get the maximum amount of force behind the arrow . They are most commonly used for Flight Archery , to achieve the greatest distance . The Majra is a thin piece of wood with a channel cut in it and small loop for the archer ' s draw hand . The device allows the archer to pull back arrows that are much shorter than were intended for the bow . There is some debate among historians if this device was designed to fire arrows that were too short for the enemy to pick up and shoot back , or if it was a way to reuse bolts fired by Chinese crossbowmen . In modern times they are primarily used in Flight Archery to shoot shorter arrows to cut down on weight . Technique . Like many other Eastern archery styles , Turkish archery uses a " thumb draw , " employing a type of grip called " mandal . " This grip prevents the arrow from moving if the archer is on a horse and / or firing at an unusual angle . The draw itself is relatively short , usually under the chin or by the cheek , compared to archery styles in China or Japan where the nock is pulled past the head . When the arrow is released , the draw arm is kept relatively steady rather than allowing the arm to swing backwards . Turkish archers developed several unique techniques to aid in combat . One was the practice of holding several arrows in between the fingers of the draw hand , allowing fast repeat shots . Another was " Jarmakee " which involves drawing the bow with the draw arm going behind the head so as the fire at a steep downward angle . This was used to fire from atop walls down at enemy troops .