Over 200 detained after İstanbul Newroz celebrations

Photos: Ruken Tuncel

Click to read the article in Turkish

Police detained more than 200 people after today's (March 21) Newroz celebrations in Yenikapı Square in İstanbul's Fatih district.

The police response began when the crowd was leaving the square after the celebrations were concluded. Officers first surrounded and detained a group of about 60 people who were chanting slogans while walking out of the square.

The police briefly prevented the people from leaving the square while continuing detentions. More than 150 people were detained and taken to the İstanbul police headquarters.

Security checkpoints at the entrance of the event area.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Züleyha Gülüm, who also attended the celebrations, told bianet that there had been "a lot of unlawfulness" since the morning.

Some people wearing traditional outfits were not allowed in the square, the MP noted. "When we asked for a reason, [the police] only said, 'These are the instructions'."

Such outfits were moslty red, yellow and green, Kurds' national colors. Police associate them with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The police also didn't allow the pictures of Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned former co-leader of the HDP, in the square, Gülüm also said. "All of these are excuses. There was a strong attendance and a big anger against the government. They couldn't stomach that."

#Newroz bittikten sonra dağılan kitleye polis müdahale etti. 60'a yakın gözaltı pic.twitter.com/okilPvVBCd
— Ruken Tuncel (@ruken_tuncel) March 19, 2023

What is Newroz?

Newroz refers to the celebration of the traditional Iranian peoples' New Year holiday of Nowruz in Kurdish culture. Before the Islamization of the Iranic peoples in Asia, the ancestors of the modern Kurds followed Zoroastrianism. In Zoroastrian doctrine, fire is a symbol of sight, goodness, and purification. Angra Mainyu, the demonic antithesis of Zoroastrianism, was defied by Zoroastrians with a big fire every year, which symbolized their defiance of and hatred for evil and the archdemon.

Newroz is mainly, in the modern age, affiliated with Kurds, who in turn make up the majority of the Alevi population, an Islamized version of the Zoroastrian religion. In Kurdish legend, the holiday celebrates the deliverance of the Kurds from a tyrant, and it is seen as another way of demonstrating support for the Kurdish cause.

The celebration coincides with the March equinox which usually falls on 21 March and is usually held between 18 and 24 March. The festival has an important place in terms of Kurdish identity for the majority of Kurds, mostly in Iraq, Turkey and Syria. Though celebrations vary, people generally gather together to welcome the coming of spring; they wear colored clothes and dance together.

(RT/VK)