Athletes from the Mediterranean Basin gather for the Mediterranean Games once every four years. Covering many sport branches, Mediterranean Games is the second most important organization coming after the Olympic Games.

Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the XVII. Mediterranean Games were held in Mersin between 20-30 June 2013 and took place in Mersin Stadium with 25.000 seating capacity specially built for the Mediterranean Games.

The opening ceremony of the organization was officiated together by Prime Minister of that period Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge.

Ceremonies were broadcasted live by television channels of 104 countries.

XVII. Mediterranean Games Opening & Closing Ceremonies with numbers: 1622 dancers performed. 126 foreign, 211 local and 219 back stage thus in total 943 technical staff worked. 58 projection devices were used. 4300 costumes were designed and produced by Arzu Kaprol. 145 minutes of audio was composed. Musical director was Fahir Atakoğlu. 187 trucks, 98 of which came from abroad, carried equipment. 8.2 tons of fireworks were used. Food supply was 58.626 pax. Water consumption was 8.2 tons. 320 transportation vehicles were used for service.