'Bijî Newroz': People flock to Yenikapı Square in İstanbul

Photo: Ferid Demirel/bianet

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Celebrated under the slogan "Dem dema serkeftinê ye" (Now is the time to win) this year, Newroz has been celebrated in İstanbul's Yenikapı Square.

Despite cold weather, more than 500,000 people went to the square early in the morning, holding placards that read "Newroz pîroz be" (Happy Newroz) and flags of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

People in the square frequently chanted slogans "Bijî Newroz" and "Bijî Serok Apo."

With women, men and children wearing national clothes, people danced halay non-stop.

The Newroz program started with the concerts of street musicians and "hunermend" Huriye.

Later, HDP İstanbul Co-Chairs Ferhat Encü and İLknur Birol saluted the crowd in Kurdish and Turkish and celebrated Newroz.

Then the Peace Mothers lit the fire of Newroz. There was great enthusiasm in the area as the fire was lit. After people chanting slogans for a long time, the Newroz statement was read out in Kurdish and Turkish.

Salute to Deniz Poyraz

Deniz Poyraz, a HDP worker who was killed in the party's office in İzmir on June 17, 2021, and the Şenyaşar Family's struggle for justice were remembered.

"Salute to the class brothers and sisters of Kaveh the Blacksmith, salute to the working class resisting capitalist exploitation. Salute to women who challenge the male-dominated ruling power with their stubborn resistance and who do not allow the darkness to fall on our country. Salute to those who pay with their lives for a life we have longed for, to our most beautiful comrades, to our most beautiful comrades who are living in our struggle."

After the statement, musicians Xêro Abbas, Koma Sorjiyan and Grup Vardiya took the stage and people danced halay.

Newroza Stenbolê #Newroz #NewrozPirozBe #Newroz2022

Yenikapı pic.twitter.com/tPPuBqgROl
— Ferid Demirel (@FeridDemirel13) March 20, 2022

Why do Kurds celebrate Newroz?

According to the legend which is a part of the Kurdish society's verbal culture, two creatures came out of both shoulders of a tyrant ruler named Dehaq. The ruler, in order to not get killed, would offer two young Kurdish people to this creature everyday. The Kurdish servants at the Palace would send one young Kurdish to the mountain across the Palace while sacrificing one sheep and one young person. Over time, a "group of fugitives" were formed by the young people freed by the servants.

One day, the turn came to the son of Kawa, the ironsmith of the city. The father did not want to offer his only son to be sacrificed for the tyrant ruler. He went to the Palace. Soldiers did not take the hammer from his waist, thinking that he would forge iron at the Palace.

(FD/VK)