Watermelon weighing 45.5 kg ranks first in festival

A farmer who grew a watermelon weighing 45.5 kilograms has won the 11th Watermelon Festival organized in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, famous for its big and juicy watermelons.

"Due to drought, unfortunately, this year farmers could not grow bigger watermelons," Münir Karaloğlu, the governor of the province, said at the prize-giving ceremony on Sept. 22.

The watermelon which ranked first in 2017 was 52 kilograms. The one in 2020 weighed 49 kilos.

Hundreds of spectators attended the 11th Watermelon Festival conducted in the Dağkapı Square.

Camels carrying watermelons on their backs "walked to the square" where people competed in different contests like "watermelon eating," "watermelon rolling," and "sitting on watermelons." Even a special horse race, named the "Diyarbakır Watermelon Race," was held in the city's hippodrome.

In the "The Most Beautiful Watermelon" contest, a watermelon weighing 44.1 kilos became a runner-up and the third was a watermelon weighing 39.7 kilograms.

"Diyarbakır watermelons are one of the biggest across the globe," Karaloğlu said.

Turkey,