Newroz Festival
Every March 21, the Newroz Festival offers the opportunity
to millions of Kurds, wherever they are in the world, to state
that they exist and that they want to reject any attempt to assimilate
them by force.
This Festival celebrates the birth of the Kurd people and its
culture, the origin of which dates back to the beginning of Christianity,
in a place regarded as the cradle of humanity.
Traditional instruments accompany singing and group Dancing;
it is a significant way to resist and to assert the existence
of the Kurdish people.
In spite of army action and prevention of foreigners to Kurdistan,
the Turkish government never managed to prevent the Newroz festival.
In the year 2000, the Festival is somewhat special: for the first
time it was held in Turkish Kurdistan whose major cities are
governed since April 18, 1999 elections by a majority of the
HADEP party members (a pro-Kurd party in Turkey).
The Festival was held in Diyarbakir. This historical city with its famous walls today has 1.5 millions inhabitants, many of whom are refugees chased by the army from the mountainous area.
Elected members of the City Council wanted the Newroz Festival to recognize the nature of the Kurdish people by an international gathering of artists, academics and celebrities. This was a wholesome success; a huge crowd estimated at 200,000 people, mostly youngsters, demonstrated their joy and sang for peace.
I was a member of the French delegation at the festival. During
my preceding visits I never had the permission to go to Diyarbakir.
Again we faced administration harassment. The regime keeps army
and police controls everywhere, even inside the city of Diyarbakir.
They tried hard to delay our visit until after the Festival.
We were not among the celebrating crowd but we were with them
in spirit. It was essential!
The PKK party has called for stopping military action and for
peace talks and for a democratic society in spite of death threats
to their imprisoned leader Öcalan. Kurds really want peace
and to participate with equal rights with the Turks to build
a democratic and modern Turkey.
For the first time I felt the coming of a slight hope for peace.
