Sifu Murat Kaplan
Warriors are distinctly different from the rest of society where the typical man in today's culture fills his spare time pursuing entertainment and pleasure, the Warrior entertains himself cultivating spirit!!! That is their pleasure, trained to take down a mountain, but wouldn't harm a fly.
- TeZeZaahir
Sifu Murat Kaplan (郭忠诚) began to practice martial arts with Tae-Kwon-Do (TKD) under Master Cihat Ramazan Gürbüz when he was 6 years old. Following his TKD trainings, he started to practice Kung-Fu; first under his first masters Sifu Lee Peng and then with Sifu Nevzat Bayrak.
He was awarded the title Sifu and given full authority of teaching his own students in 1995 after 18 years of trainings.
While he was away from his country for his academic studies, Kaplan had a chance to become a member of 'Fong's Wing-Chun Gung-Fu Federation'.
During his martial arts trainings, he practiced Kung-Fu with several masters like Sifu Yen Chien (Ip Man's nephew Lo-Man-Kam's student); and Qigong and Taiji with prominent Shaolin monks Grandmaster Shi-De-Wei and Master Zheng-Xiaohong.
In March 2010 Sifu Kaplan was accepted to the 'Traditional Ip Man Wing-Chun Lineage' under Grandmaster Samuel Kwok after a Bai-Si ceremony during the ICKKF 2010 World Championship in Portugal.
Murat Kaplan holds the title of Master in Chinese Lohan Tao Kempo Karate and represents Poland and Turkey in the International Chinese Kempo Karate Federation (ICKKF).
Along with his other martial arts researches and trainings, Kaplan has deepened his martial arts knowledge in Wing-Chun Kung-Fu. He is currently teaching Wing-Chun in Antalya, Turkey, representing Traditional Ip Man Wing-Chun / Samuel Kwok Wing-Chun Association in Turkey.
Kaplan is the member and/or representative of several international martial arts federations and associations; and during his stays in different countries, he trained the local Police and Military forces including some security guards.
"Thanks very much Murat for spreading Ip man Wing Chun in Poland and Turkey . You are an ambassador of Wing-Chun. 'Humble and honest'. This is the name I gave you 郭忠诚" - Grandmaster Samuel Kwok
In addition to his martial arts carrier, Kaplan has had a quite productive academic life with over ten books and many international articles published in the fields of English Language and Literature and methodology of language teaching (in English, Russian, Turkish, and Kazakh languages).
Kaplan focuses his academic researches on Forensic Psychology and he is an expert in the field along with Criminal Psychology. as he holds an expertise in the field of Forensic Psychology, along with Forensic Document Examining. With the skills obtained, he works professionally (with related official and private institutions) in the field of face reading, body language and neuro-linguistic codes to elicit personality traits and possible behavioral patterns of the individuals he is assigned to analyze.
Kaplan has been giving conferences and workshops on the personal development, using the martial arts principles. He has also published several books on the same theme along with his famous book series 'The Art of Face Reading' (Yüz Okuma Sanatı) in Turkish language, which is available on Amazon.
Kaplan was honored to have been given an award by the World Wide Martial Arts Council (WWMAC) on October 1st, 2013, in San Diego, California. Along with the award given to him, WWMAC has also announced Kaplan as the WWMAC Turkey Director. He was also presented the Silver Lifetime Achievement Award by the Action Martial Arts Magazine for 2014 Hall of Fame, in Atlantic City, US, in January 2014.
In May 2015, Kaplan was awarded the title of 'Master of the Year' at 'the 8th Munich Hall of Honors and Spirit'.
Sifu Kaplan was also given the 'Gold Award' with the title of the 'Ambassador of Martial Arts' on September 24, 2016 in Switzerland by 'the Swiss Martial Arts Hall of Honors'.
Murat Kaplan is fluent in English, Russian, Polish and Kazakh.
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