BERJÎN KARA

Makhmur- With the arrival of spring, the Kurdish people begin to organize everything for Newroz. On March 21, they light the fire of Newroz and then dance around the fire.  Newroz is the fire of life, hope and struggle of the oppressed. The fire of Newroz is like a flower that decorating the world by opening its beautiful leaves and showing the flow of life. It is the day of resistance for the Kurdish people.

 Preparations continue at the camp

Newroz is also celebrated in the Makhmur refugee camp every year on March 21. Thousands of Kurdish refugees, who were forcibly displaced from their villages, towns and cities in the 1990s due to Turkey’s war policies, live in this refugee camp. Rebuilding a new life in the camp, people from all ages welcome special days such as March 21, March 8 and April 4 with great enthusiasm. In the camp, where preparations for Newroz have been going on for days, people from all ages will celebrate Newroz by holding torches, dancing and singing. This year, Newroz has been dedicated to the victims of February 6 earthquakes.

‘We celebrate Newroz with great enthusiasm’

Cemîle Kara, a resident of the camp, first wished a happy Newroz to Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan and Kurdish fighters. “Before being forcibly displaced, we used to live in our village. In the village, we celebrated Newroz every year with great enthusiasm. We used to have a happy life. After lighting the fire of Newroz, we danced around it. However, the Turkish state oppressed us in order to prevent us from celebrating Newroz. In the village, women and men used to wear their traditional clothes to celebrate Newroz. After being forcibly displaced from our village, we lit the fire of Newroz in many camps by wearing our traditional clothes. We have celebrated Newroz in the Makhmur refugee camp since we settled in the camp,” she told us.

‘Women rose up against the patriarchal mentality thanks to Abdullah Öcalan’

“Women began to rise up against the patriarchal mentality thanks to Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan,” Cemîle Kara said, “If we celebrate Newroz freely now, it is thanks to the Kurds; thanks to Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. Thanks to him, we, as Kurdish women, celebrate Newroz freely.  Before, women could not even go out. Thanks to the ideology of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan, Kurdish women rose up and gained their rights.”