Tens of thousands gather for Newroz in Diyarbakır

* Photos: Umut Ali Adalı

Click to read the article in Turkish /  Kurdish

The center of Newroz celebrations was Diyarbakır today (March 21).

Held with the motto "Dem dema serkeftinê ye" (Now is time to win), the final 2022 Newroz celebration was held at the Newroz Park in Bağlar in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

The people of Diyarbakır headed for the Newroz Park in Bağlar from across the province as of early morning hours today.

The ones who came from Bismil district to Diyarbakır for the Newroz celebration were stopped at the exit of Bismil and entry of Diyarbakır at police checkpoints and an identity check was conducted. Buses filled with people headed from Bismil to the Newroz site in songs.

People faced six search points before they could enter the Newroz site. Long queues emerged in front of these search points.

Several people were performing folk dances in front of the police search points and booing in protest against the attitude of the police.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Mahmut Toğrul and Riot Police Chief had a row over these checks. Mahmut Toğrul said, "They are literally doing mobbing; they are trying to provoke and hinder us".

But despite all these obstacles, large crowds of people celebrated Newroz with joy. Getting over the barricades and finally entering the Newroz site, people starged chanting slogans. The ones at the site were doing folk dances to the songs of Rojda in the meantime. 

HDP Diyarbakır Provincial Co-Chair Zeyyat Ceylan made a speech on behalf of the Newroz Organization Committee and started the program:

Happy Newroz to Qamishlo, Mahabad, Hewlêr. Happy Newroz to four parts of Kurdistan. The Newroz resistance will continue as long as there is oppression. To the ones who say, 'We will break the Kurdish political will', here is the answer: Amed*

Newroz fire was lit.

During the celebtation, hundreds of people performed folk dances, sometimes by singing songs, sometimes by chanting slogans.

Addressing the crowd, politician Ahmet Türk raised concerns about the health condition of ill prisoner and Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk, who is still arrested despite being diagnosed with dementia. Calling out to Kurdish politicians, Türk said, "It is time for the Kurdish unity".

The letters of arrested Kurdish politician Leyla Güven and dismissed and arrested Metropolitan Co-Mayor of Diyarbakır Dr. Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı were also read out at the event. In her letter from the Elazığ Prison in eastern Turkey, Güven emphasized that the struggle of the Kurdish political movement has been continuing despite all obstacles and pressures.

'We are behind the Dolmabahçe Agreement'

Taking the floor at the event, HDP Co-Chair Pervin Buldan said, "Today is the day of peace, today is the day of freedom, today is Newroz... Welcome all". Referring to jailed Kurdish politicians, she added, "By the fire all across Turkey stand Selahattin Demirtaş, Figen Yüksekdağ, Aysel Tuğluk, Sebahat Tuncel... They are all among us, they are all in this square."

Commemorating Deniz Poyraz, killed at HDP İzmir office last year, and Kemal Kurkut, killed by the police during the 2017 Newroz in Diyarbakır, Buldan said, "Newroz means meeting in the will of national unity. Newroz is the feast of the oppressed who do not bow down to oppressors".

Referring to the resolution process for the Kurdish question, Buldan added, "The agreement read out at this square 9 years ago was the road map for the resolution of the Kurdish question. What has happened in 9 years has shown how much this agreement on resolution is needed. We once again declare that we are behind that letter and the Dolmabahçe agreement".

Further in her statement, HDP Co-Chair Buldan said, "We once again promise that we will put an end to the oppression and unlawful practices of this government and send them away. As long as these people are at the squares, they will be unable to win. These squares are the confirmation of the will of resolution. They mean laying claim to Selahattins and Figens".

"Everyone should assume responsibility: Let's bring peace to Turkey," she said, adding, "For what is there politics and Parliament? We have a key role for the resolution of all problems. If you jail the will of a people and appoint trustees to their will, you cannot solve the Kurdish question".

Recalling that women showed with ululations and folk dances on March 8 Women's Day that they will not bow down to the AKP, Buldan said, "The same will has been displayed in Newroz for 3 days".

Concluding her remarks with "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi" (Women, World, Freedom in Kurdish), HDP Co-Chair Pervin Buldan said:

I promise that we will continue struggling without making concessions and by protecting our unity and togetherness. We have issued a declaration that will serve the peace and democracy of Turkey. We once again make a call to the ones who are and are not with us: We will bring right and law to this country; we will bring great peace.

Despite the cold weather, the celebration continued with the songs of Servet Kocakaya. Speaking at the event, Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-Chair Berdan Öztürk said, "We have no option other than resistance. It is time for freedom, it is now time for the physical freedom of Kurdish People's Leader [jailed PKK leader] Abdullah Öcalan..." 

Following the speeches, singer Rojda came to the stage.

(UAA/AS/SD)

* Kurds call the city Amed. In 1937, some 14 years after the Republic of Turkey had been established, the official name of the city, which had been called Amida, Amidi, Amid, Kara-Amid, Diyar-Bekr and Diyarbekir over the centuries, was changed as Diyarbakır.