|
Turkey: MHP, DTP agree to discuss making
Kurdish Newroz day a national holiday
20.3.2008
|
|
|
|
March 20, 2008
ANKARA,-- In a rare agreement between the
country's ultra-nationalist and pro-Kurdish parties,
Parliament decided late Tuesday to discuss a draft
bill that will make the traditional Newroz festival
celebrated on March 21 a national holiday.
Newroz has become an occasion for Turkey's Kurds to
demand more freedoms or to demonstrate their support
for the Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
However, previous celebrations have been marred by
bloodshed, leading the state to recognize the event
as a Turkish festival to celebrate the coming of
spring.
Atilla Kaya, a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)
deputy, made a proposal to Parliament late Tuesday
to place the draft bill on the agenda of the General
Assembly,www.ekurd.net
the Anatolia news agency
reported. Kaya said that Turks have celebrated
Newroz as a festival for centuries, like many Middle
Eastern and Turkic states. Hasip Kaplan, pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputy, said his
party group supports the proposal. |
Kurds around the world celebrating the New Kurdish
year "NEWROZ' |
'Newroz' is the
traditional Kurdish new year, The year 2008
corresponds to the Kurdish year 2620. All Kurds
around the world are celebrating the new year 'Newroz'.
The Kurdish calendar starts at 612 BC. This is the
year that Cyaxares, the grandson of Deioces (Díyako),
the first king of the Medes' empire, occupied
Nineveh and put the end to the brutality of the
Assyrian empire in the lands under its occupation.
Newroz means 'new day' in Kurdish. Writing the word
'Newroz' in Kurdish is prohibited in Turkey because
the Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized in
Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q which
do not exist in the Turkish alphabet has led to
judicial persecution in 2000 and 2003. Kurdish
Newroz must be written as 'Nevruz' with Turkish
alphabet/
Today Kurdish people light fires everywhere to mark
the occasion.
Turkey's Kurds want to speak Kurdish everywhere, to
learn and teach it to their children at schools, and
learn Kurdish history and literature.
As it stands, they can't even use their Kurdish
names. The current injustice is bigger than Dehak's.
Although every Turkish national day is celebrated,
and Newroz isn't counted as a holiday.
Turkey's Kurdish students, teachers, doctors and
nurses are not allowed leave to celebrate. If they
do go, they will be questioned.
turkishdailynews com.tr | Agencies
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to 25 million ethnic Kurds, a
large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 