Mersin is competing against Volos, Greece and Rijeka, Croatia to host the 2013 Mediterranean Games (‘Akdeniz Oynalari’). The Egyptian Al-Ahram Weekly has a write-up of each city’s presentations.

The Mediterranean Games are a multi-sport event held every 4 years in the Olympic tradition. Unlike the Olympics (and as its name suggests), participation in the Mediterranean Games is restricted to countries in the vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea. All countries bordering the Med take part except for Israel.

The final decision on who hosts the 2013 games will be made by the International Mediterranean Games Committee (CIJM) in November 2007. Turkey hosted the Mediterranean Games once previously: the 1971 games in Izmir.

The 2009 games will be held in Pescara, Italy.

Mersin has changed its candidature logo. The following fish logo is the original design. I took this photo at the 2006 Mersin Motor Show. I guess the bubbles coming out of its mouth are meant to represent the 3 CIJM rings.

Recently, a more conservative and informative logo has replace the fish: