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Duran Kalkan, Executive Council member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said that the spirit of Newroz has always played a unique role throughout the development of the Kurdish freedom movement since the 1970s, starting with the first assembly -on the day of Newroz- of a core activist group under the leadership of Abdullah Öcalan that would found the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, and continuing with legendary PKK member Mazlum Doğan sacrificing his own life on the 1982 Newroz day, in protest against cruel treatment of political prisoners of the notorious Diyarbakır (Amed) Prison after the military coup in Turkey.
Speaking on Medya Haber TV, Kalkan said that these were due to a consciousness of history.
“The decision to launch a great resistance was taken by Mazlum Doğan in prison. The uprisings, the revolution of national resistance was forged in leaps on days of Newroz. This is an expression of the consciousness of history,” he stated.
“We can say that the feast of Newroz marks many things”, as was clearly explained by our friend Mazlum. “There is unity among them. It’s a feast of unity. It’s a feast of resistance. A feast of victory, and a feast of freedom (…) Newroz is a joint resistance of united people”.
He added:
“PKK has actually become a Newroz party. Newroz assumed its historical meaning through the resistance of PKK. It marks a great resistance for freedom, unity for freedom, and is celebrated as a festival of victory for the last 50 years.”
