On Newroz Day Thousands Confront Government on Kurdish Issue

Thousands of people gathered in Kazılçeşme, a district on the European side of Istanbul, to celebrate Newroz as the start of the new year and the arrival of spring,demonstrating their support for the Kurdish cause.

The celebration was attended by pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) MPs Ufuk Uras, Sebahat Tuncel and co-chair Gültan Kışanak among others. The traditional Newroz fire was lit by MPs Uras and Tuncel.

Rıza Taşdelen from the Democratic Solution for Peace Platform reiterated the organization's claim for a democratic constitution and said that "this question cannot be solved without Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdish people, the PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] and KCK [umbrella organization of the PKK]".

Öcalan calls for National Kurdish Conference

After a concert performed by the Kurdish group Koma Çar Neva, the Newroz message of imprisoned PKK leader Öcalan was read out: "A national conference should be held on the democratic foundation against imminent dangers. Otherwise, also the Iranian and Iraqi Kurds will lose what they have achieved. The Kurdish people are not a 15-year-old child. They will not come to join a game. They take their own decisions. All kinds of defence precautions should be taken and our people should continue their democratic communal life despite extermination and extensive detentions". Öcalan's message had been forwarded to his lawyers.

Tuncel: Many negotiators in Diyarbakır

MP Tuncel said in his speech that the political power is looking for a negotiator to solve the Kurdish question: "Mr Prime Minister, there are hundreds of thousands of negotiators in Amed [Diyarbakır]. The Kurdish people do not want to vanish any further. They want their rights and an identity. Abdullah Öcalan is the negotiator. Listen to him".

When Tuncel asked the crowd who is the negotiator, they replied "It's Öcalan".

Kışanak called for amendments of the constitution

Also MP Uras and DTP co-chair Kışanak called for a democratic and peaceful solution of the Kurdish question. Kışanak moreover called for the release from detention of Kurdish politicians and children and criticized Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for threatening illegal Armenian immigrants with their expulsion from Turkey.

Kışanak argued, "Our most basic need is to get rid of the coup constitution. The party's co-chair demanded amendments of the constitution: "Obstructions for any languages should be lifted. The rights to associate, to freedom of thought and democratic opposition have been usurped in this country. The election threshold should be decreased immediately, all parties should be provided with election support and elections should be made in a democratic framework. Everybody lining up with peace and democracy should join hands. We have to create a union of power. We call everybody who is concerned about peace and democracy to come and save this country from AKP [ruling Justice and Development Party]".

Peace Council called for release of Kurdish politicians

A message of the Turkish Peace Council was read out during the celebration as well. The Peach Council called for the release of detained Kurdish politicians.

Metin Aslan, speaking on behalf of Tekel workers, warned that the oppressed are under more pressure than ever and called for a joint struggle.

Mustafa Ayhan, member of the Peace Group from Kandil and Mahmur, said, "The ones propagating peace are the negotiators, not the ones calling for war. This question has to be solved by talking".

The ceremony was also joined by Günlük newspaper publishing director Filiz Koçali, Ertuğrul Kürkçü from bianet and President of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Public Employees (KESK) Sami Evren.

Further DTP MPs spoke at Newroz celebrations in Van, Siirt, Batman, Mardin, Kızıltepe, Urfa and Birecik. The given speeches were of the same tenor, mainly focussing on how to solve the Kurdish question by negotiations.

Celebrations in Diyarbakır

Read journalist Carla van Os's impressions about the Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakır in south-eastern Turkey as follows:

"In a sunny and warm Diyarbakir an enormous crowd of hundreds of thousand people gathered to celibate Newroz 2010. It was a colourful and powerful political manifestation and a party in one. A day long program of political and cultural hot shots from Kurdish daily life. As non Kurdish nor Turkish speaking foreigners we were impressed by the organisation who managed to present a gender equally based program. However we missed most of the content of the speeches but as we spoke yesterday with Leyla Zana and Osman Baydemir, who were two of the stars of the Newroz manifestation, it is clear that they, among others, stressed the repression of the Kurdish people by the Turkish state and its representatives. Baydemir mentioned that since the start of the mass arrests of April 2009 and the ban of the DTP in December still nine legally elected mayors and seventeen former mayors are in custody among 1500 others.

Zana remembered that even the Kurdish movement in Europe was attacked by Turkish-Belgium cooperation against Roj tv in Brussels and other Kurdish rank and file.

Newroz participants protested the long imprisonment of many well known Kurdish politicians and thousands of children who are detained as 'terrorists'.

A prominent position was taken by fans of PKK-leader Öcalan who hang his picture on different places, but not on the main stage. Osman Baydemir stressed that the Kurdish opening as it was presented last year by the Turkish government had developed in its opposite: a Kurdish closure. In this militant atmosphere the Kurdish movement started a new and thrilling year moreover a new and important year in Turkish history". (TK/VK)