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Turkey: Keep politics out of Newroz
festivities
17.3.2006
By Ilnur Cevik - Opinion. Modification of facts
corrected
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Every year in Turkey,
Newroz becomes a period of tension instead of
creating a festive mood. In the '80s and '90s,
militant Kurds in Turkey used the occasion for a
political showdown, provoking violent incidents in
the southeastern and eastern provinces
(Kurdistan-Turkey). These militants instigated
violent incidents where the local people confronted
security forces. People burned tires and attacked
security forces with stones.
In recent years the Turkish authorities decided that
Newroz was an ancient Turkish festivity and that it
should be celebrated all over Turkey, not just in
the areas dominated by our citizens of Kurdish
origin. Turkish authorities started organizing
special celebrations where many prominent
personalities jumped over bonfires, as the tradition
requires. Of course these so-called festivities were
completely artificial and lacked any kind of public
support.
Now we see a new controversy shaping up as the
southeastern provincial capital of Diyarbakir
(Kurdistan-Turkey), where the population is
dominated by our citizens of Kurdish origin,
prepares to host massive festivities on Newroz next
Tuesday. There are reports that the organizers have
invited prominent Turkish personalities and state
officials, along with Iraqi Kurdish leaders like
Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani.
Turkish papers have made a great issue out of the
invitations for Barzani and Talabani. They seem to
suggest that the two leaders are unwanted in Turkey
and that the organizers should never have invited
them. The sad thing is that these people are
creating a tempest in a teacup. Talabani and Barzani
would not come to any event in Turkey as long as
they are not first invited to Ankara in their
official capacities as Iraqi state officials.
Talabani is not just a Kurdish leader, he is the
president of the state of Iraq and to expect that
Talabani would come to Diyarbakir merely to attend
Newroz festivities shows that our people are really
taking Iraqi Kurdish leaders very lightly and that
is why they keep continue to make serious policy
errors.
Besides all this, we feel the organizers of the
Diyarbakir festivities are also making serious
mistakes by staging such a massive occasion not to
really celebrate anything but again to give a
political and ethnic message to Ankara. We feel such
a message is unnecessary as we go through these
sensitive times with Turkish nationalistic fervor
running so high.
Newroz is a happy occasion. For all Kuds worlwide it
is the Kurdish New Year, while for others it
signifies the start of spring. Whatever it is, it is
a special occasion for most Kurds.
The Kurds of Turkey must realize that Newroz is a
time of celebrations, peace and calm. In Iraqi
Kurdistan Newroz is celebrated with dances, barbeque
parties and all kinds of happy occasions. There is
no politics. This should be a guideline for our
citizens of Kurdish origin.
We are concerned that the PKK will hijack the
festivities and create political incidents on the
occasion of Newroz in many southeastern and southern
(Kurdistan-Turkey) cities. We already warned our
officials nearly three weeks ago to be on the
lookout for such incidents and acts of civil
disobedience fanned by the PKK.
Let us hope again that our peace-loving citizens of
Kurdish origin do not allow the PKK to hijack Newroz
and turn it into a new phase of tensions in Turkey.
www.thenewanatolian.com
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