Thousands gathered in Kazlıçeşme in Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu district Sunday to celebrate Nevruz, a festival that marks the beginning of spring, with Kurdish songs and the dance known as the halay.
The area for the festivities, organized by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, was draped in yellow, red and green flags and many participants chanted slogans praising Nevruz and Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
Speakers addressing the crowd spoke in both Turkish and Kurdish as police kept a close eye on revelers, who included BDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş, BDP Istanbul deputies Ufuk Uras and Sebahat Tuncel, and the outlawed PKK leader’s brother, Mehmet Öcalan.
Police were out in full force for the celebrations in Kazlıçeşme and were also on hand to prevent impromptu, unsanctioned Nevruz celebrations from breaking out around the city. Taking stringent measures before and during the celebration, officers prevented people from carrying Öcalan posters into the area cordoned off for festivities. Some conflicts took place between police and participants who did not want to be searched while entering the festival area.
In his speech at the Kazlıçeşme festival, Demirtaş criticized the government for taking what he called an aggressive attitude toward the BDP. “Keeping their votes and keeping their seats comes before peace and democracy for them,” he said.
“There is no slavery worse than considering oneself ‘free’ in a country where there is no freedom,” said Uras.
Celebrations ahead of the March 21 Nevruz holiday, the official new year in Iran and a spring rite in many parts of the Middle East and Turkic republics, were also held in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır and the eastern province of Erzurum.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.