Kurdish people and their allies in Istanbul are meeting in Yenikapi Square to celebrate Newroz. Thousands have already arrived and thousands are on the way, reports the Mesopotamia News Agency.
The slogans “Let’s resist with the Newroz fire”, “Greetings to our Sun, continue the resistance”, and “Berxwedana jinên ciwan deng daye qadên azad” (“Young women’s resistance continues everywhere”) were written on placards hanging in the square.
People started dancing the halay (traditional Kurdish dance) together and chanted slogans for the freedom of Kurdistan Workers’ Party Leader (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan.
Police ban on Rojava placards
Organisers have made a checkpoint at the entrance of the meeting area to avoid possible conflicts and there are also some other checkpoints established by the police. It has been reported that the police do not allow certain placards into the meeting area.
Placards banned by police include messages such as, “Rojava’s enemy is the enemy of the oppressed”, “HDP can exist with independent politics and can be defended with the crowded protests”, “Constituent Assembly for a democratic constitution, the only way for a constituent assembly is the revolution”.
Support for the Hunger Strikes
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Youth Council Members entered the meeting area first and chanted slogans defending the hunger strikes that were launched in Turkey’s prisons against the isolation of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Meanwhile women also entered the meeting area in purple clothes, chanting, “It is time for freedom”.
The meeting, which is abiding by Covid-19 restrictions, continues with dances and chanting.