Newroz Joy Overflows Into the Sea

The city of Istanbul experienced one of its most crowded Newroz celebrations in the recent years.

As always, the celebrations held in Kazlıçeşme (a district of Zeytinburnu/İstanbul) with people filling the square from early hours of the morning. People outgrew and extended up to the waterfront.

With the help of election atmosphere and harmonious with the sun above, this year’s Newroz turned into a spring celebration in Istanbul.

Certainly, it was women who harmonized best with the colors like yellow, red and green. Women, wearing green skirts, red blouse, yellow shawl matched their eye shadows to these colors.

Some women wore their traditional clothes, garments that only worn in marriage ceremonies and Newroz. Some men and children also followed their fashion.

"Heval, this is not bravery"

Posters of Abdullah Öcalan (PKK leader) and PKK flags predominantly filled the square this year. The photograph of Öcalan was reflected behind the Newroz fire on the stage. 

On the other hand, Kurdish teens received a warning from the backstage as they attempted to hang Öcalan posters by climbing to various flag poles: 

"Heval, this is not bravery. The square is filled with Öcalan posters, already."

Another waning came when other teenagers climbed over the barricade and approached the stage in the crowds, resulting in the rise of tensions:

“We should celebrate our Newroz excitement in an ideological line."

Apart from Öcalan, the posters of Rahşan Demirel [a Kurdish girl who burnt herself as a protest against the state in the nineties], Deniz Gezmiş [a socialist student leader in the seventies hung by the government], Mahir Çayan  [a marxist-leninist student leader in the seventies man killed by Turkish soldiers in the armed conflict] and Kemal Pir [a Kurdish member of PKK who died in prison] were hung on the right and left part of the stage. The photographs of Berkin Elvan [a teenage killed by police gas bomb canister in Gezi Park protests], Ceylan Önkol [a 14 year-old girl killed by a military explosive in Diyarbakır province], Uğur Kaymaz [killed by police in Mardin province, a part of southeastern of Turkey] were shown.

The square was like a fairground. There were all kinds of traditional delicious foods and beautiful ornaments. 

High hopes

“Even if there isn’t any great progress since last year, our Kurdish guerrillas don’t arrive home in the form of casket,” young people told bianet.

They have high hopes about resolution process generally. The crowd is glad with dialog between the government and PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. They request that Öcalan must be released immediately. That’s why they gathered signatures for Öcalan to be released.

A group from Rojava [a distict in North Syria where Kurds live predominantly], HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) metropolitan municipality of İstanbul co-chair candidates Pınar Aydınlar and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) co- chairman Selahattin Demirtaş, HDP İstanbul deputy Levent Tüzel, BDP Ağrı [an eastern district of Turkey] deputy Halil Aksoy and Muş [an eastern district of Turkey] deputy Sırrı Sakık participated in the celebrations.

Önder: This crowd overwhelms Amed

Celebrations started with the reading of Abdullah Öcalan’s letter. 

Pınar Aydınlar commemorated women who lost their lives and said that these women turned the life into a woman revolution.

“This crowd overwhelms Amed [officially recognized as Diyarbakır province of Turkey]. What a great crowd, what a glory,” Sırrı Süreyya Önder hailed the crowd.

“PM Erdoğan gathered a crowd metres far away in Yenikapı (a sea shore district of İstanbul). They dig out and fill their safes with money all the time,” Önder criticized PM’s Yenikapı meeting, taking place at the same time.

“We are coming to call them to account. Not with tapes. We will call them to account with what they’ve got illegally. We are coming on the double to finish using local governments to commit crime against the city,” Önder continued.

He responded the conflict about receding for the sake of CHP (Republican Peoples’ Party):

“I promise frankly. We will recede if they present a co-chairman candidate from Istanbul’s all districts. Is there any? No. Sorry but they ignore the women.”

Demirtaş: You did all together

Selahattin Demirtaş, co-chairman of BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) gave BDP municipalities as an example. 

“I advise PM that if he shuts down everything which makes him angry, at first he should shut down Bilal [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son]. You cannot calm down by shutting down Twitter. You must return from following the wrong path. You must apologize from people,” said Demirtaş in his conversation by criticizing Twitter’s shut down.

“You did all together for 11 years. Your crimes are equal,” said Demirtaş and stated that the government and Fethullah Gülen movement are partners for 11 years.

Demirtaş pointed out the relation between CHP (Republican People’s Party) and Gülen movement and he expressed that they will never permit the new wicked partnerships.

The meeting kept going with the concerts (NV/BD/BM).