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A group of men attacked LGBTI+s during yesterday's (March 21) Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakır, a predominantly Kurdish-populated province in the country's southeast.
After members of the Human Rights Association (İHD) and the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) intervened, they attacked them as well.
Ahead of the celebration event, the group whose members identify as "Kurdish nationalists" had said in a statement, "If you see flags of the TİP and LGBT, which have nothing to do with Newroz and Kurdishness, you can use them to ignite the fire of Newroz."
During the celebrations attended by tens of thousands of people, the group asked for rainbow flags to be taken down before attacking the LGBTI+s.
Lawyer Okan Altekin said they would file a criminal complaint against the mob, adding that they had videos showing the attack.
"We are not safe"
The lawyer, who also attended the event, said "we saw that they were looking for LGBTI flags to attack."
"They first attacked the TİP members. After they noticed us, they attacked us as well," he said. "The TİP members tried to protect us. Meanwhile, we began leaving the area in groups."
While they were leaving, a man with a knife chased some İHD members, who eventually sought help from the police, added Altekin. "We somehow got out of the area, and once again realized that our lives are not safe."
Even though the group was small in numbers, they also "triggered the other homophobic people in the environment," according to the lawyer. "This is what is really frightening. They come organized and, while manipulating the environment, carry out an organized homophobic attack.
"We have videos and will file a criminal complaint against these people. These complaints will be filed in the names of both me and the bar association."
Attack in İzmir
Meanwhile, Colors of Resistance (Direnişin Renkleri), an LGBTI+ group, exposed a man who attacked LGBTI+s during the Newroz celebrations in İzmir on social media.
Sharing his photo on Twitter, the group wrote that the person had been removed from the celebration area after people nearby intervened.
LGBTI+s faced hate attacks at Newroz celebrations last year as well, which drew condemnation from Kurdish politicians and activists.
Newroz and NevruzThe word "roj" meaning "day" in Kurdish is pronounced as "ruz" in Persian. New day is pronounced as Nûrûz (نوروز ) in Persian. In Kurdish and Persian, two languages from the Persian branch of Indo-European languages, it is possible to make up news words by compounding words. Newroz/Nûrûz is a compound of two words. In Turkish, it seems that the "w" in the Kurdish word "Newroz" is changed into "v" and the "rûz" in the Persian word "Nûrûz" is changed into "ruz". According to the Turkish Language Society (TDK) dictionary, the Turkish word "Nevruz" is a compound of Persian "Nev+ruz" words and means "the day corresponding to the 21st day of March, which was considered to be the first day of the year and spring according to old calendars." Why celebrated on March 21?Before Kurds embraced the 30-day month system of modern times, they used to use a nature calendar. That calendar did not have 30 days. (Kurdologist Dr. İbrahim Seydo Aydogan, İnalco) The names of several months originated from nature. We also use these names in the 30-day calendar. For instance, the coldest forty days of winter, Çileyê Zivistanê (the forty of winter), wind "ba (Kuridsh)" when it blew "Sibat (February in English, Şubat in Turkish)" the feeding time of partridges Kewçêr (kew: partridge çêrîn: to feed) or "Cotmeh" (cot kirin: plough, meh: month) is used for October. On the first day of lighting up fire is Newroz celebrated. So, on the first of May. However, after Kurds embraced Islam, this day corresponded to March 13 in the new month system. Then, Kurds adopted the Gregorian calendar where this day falls on March 21. |
(EMK/VK)
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