By Rozh Pavilov

Despite the attacks and the banning of demonstrations on Newroz day, (21^st of march) by the Turkish government. Hundreds of thousands of Kurdish people took the streets, demonstrated and called for freedom.

Newroz (new day) that is on 21^st of March is the Kurdish new-year and it has turned into the day of National Liberation Struggle of the Kurdish people; it is often banned and attacked by the state forces but it is the most important day of action in this struggle.

In the morning of 21^st march in Diyarbakir city, the capital of Kurdistan hundreds of thousands of Kurdish people demonstrated throughout the city. The Turkish army organised military preparation such as cross borders and checkpoints for this day. People were arrested at these check points under the ground of that they carried red banners and banners of PKK {Kurdistan workers party). It resulted in a clash between the people and the army. The police arrested hundreds of young Kurdish people.

The same situation happened in other cites of Kurdistan. Ten thousand people met at a rally in Kazlicesme in Istanbul and celebrated Newroz Day under the attacks and raids by the police. They also tried to stop people from attending the rally from the other parts of Istanbul, by threatening the bus drivers to not carry the demonstrators. They also interrupted speakers at the stage by shutting down the audio system. They censored the speech.  At the end of the rally police arrested hundreds of people that included organising committee members, trade unionists and political party members.

What happened on this day is the usual act against Kurdish people by the so called democratic Turkish government that’s member of the European Union and is the second largest standing armed force in NATO, but it’s the occupation force in Kurdistan that has oppressed Kurdish people since the day they’ve occupied that country.