The spring festival of Newroz, long a symbol of Kurdish resistance and protest, is normally on 21 March. It was celebrated early at the weekend in many cities around Turkey: Van, İzmir, Mersin, Bingöl, Mardin, Dersim, Mardin, Erzincan, Adıyalan-Kahta and Bulam, Antep, Mardin-Midyat, Urfa-Hilvan, Şırnak , Ceylanpınar, Antalya, Muğla, Manisa, Aydın, Ankara, Kırşehir, Eskişehir and Konya.
All around the country, the meeting places filled early in the morning. The events were organised by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and there were no disturbances. The police stopped some groups from disturbing the celebrations.
Gültan Kışanak, the co-chair of the BDP, joined the celebrations in Bingöl, eastern Turkey. She spoke in front of around 10,000 people, saying, “This Newroz is the result of the Kurdish resistance. Öcalan, an architect of peace, who has strived for a solution for 14 years, has taken a great step. This step is the peace process, this step is the democratic independence process.”
BDP MP for Mersin Ertuğrul Kürkçü celebrated in his constituency, where around 80,000 people had gathered.
Hasip Kaplan, BDP MP for the eastern province of Şırnak, joined the celebrations in the western city of Izmir, saying, “This year, Turkey will experience a spring of peace. Whoever stands in the way of peace will lose.”
Compared to the last years, this year’s Newroz was uneventful, with people gathering peacefully in cities and district towns. (HK/AG/KU)
