Amed (Diyarbakır)- Newroz celebration has started at Newroz Park in Amed with the participation of hundreds of thousands of people. The 2023 Newroz celebrations have been dedicated to those who lost their lives in the Maraş earthquakes. Photographs of Jina Mahsa Amini, who was killed in custody by Iran’s so-called morality police on September 16, 2022, and Kemal Kurkut, who was shot to death during the Newroz celebration in Amed on March 21, 2017, have been hung around the park.

Protest against the isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan

Some young people and women have chanted slogans such as “Bijî Serok Apo (English: Long live leader Apo)” and “Be Serok jiyan na be (English: No life without leader)” to protest the isolation imposed on Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali prison.

Representatives of political parties and NGOs

The Newroz celebration has started with the participation of the representatives of many political parties, NGOs and trade unions such as Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-chair Berdan Öztürk, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-chair Saliha Aydeniz, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-chair Mithat Sancar, Green Left Party Co-Spokesperson Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar, Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) deputy Co-chair Beycan Taşkıran, Republican People's Party (CHP) Istanbul MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu, members of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) and Labor Party (EMEP), Centre for Political and Social Studies (SAMER) Chair Yüksel Genç, Human Rights Association (IHD) Co-chair Öztürk Türkdoğan, members of the Peace Mothers’ Initiative and Confederation of Public Employees' Trade Unions (KESK) Co-chair Şükran Kablan Yeşil.

Special guests

This year, Newroz celebration in Amed has special guests such as Ferit Şenyaşar, Başak Demirtaş, the wife of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) former Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş and Zeynep Mızraklı, the wife of the imprisoned Amed Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Selçuk Mızraklı.

After a minute’s silence for those who lost their lives in the Maraş earthquakes, the celebration started. HDP Amed Provincial Co-Chair Gülistan Atasoy made the opening speech of the celebration. “Today, we come together with the pain inside us, with anger in our hearts and with our rebellion. We came together on March 8 and now we come together on March 21 for Newroz, saying that our mourning is our reason for struggle. We will conclude our march, which started on March 21, with victory on May 14. Now is the time to turn darkness into light. The 21st century will be the century of the children of Kawa the Blacksmith. It will be the century of freedom for all people in the Middle East, Kurdistan and Turkey.”

After the speeches, the fire of Newroz was lit at the Newroz Park.