National - Kurdish Globe

The Kurdish Globe No. 345, Monday, March 26, 2012 11Turkey’s Newroz Festivalturns into fireballsTear gas and truncheons await Kurdish New Year revelersBy Mehmed Sabri AkgönülThe beginningof the KurdishNew Year beginswith violence anddeath as Kurdsdefy the banimplemented bythe Turkish State.REUTERS/Umit BektasKurds in Turkey welcomedNewroz, or "New Day," withfear, conflict and deaths.In many cities, includingDiyarbakir and Istanbul,Kurds clashed with Turkishsecurity forces. Turkish poltlice attacked thousands ofKurds trying to join the Newtwroz celebrations and usedtear gas, water cannons andbatons to break up Kurditish demonstrations. Demotonstrators hurled stones inretaliation.Clashes and violencewere expected during theNewroz celebrations. Thepro-Kurdish Peace and Demtmocracy Party (BDP), inan attempt to allow greaterparticipation, planned tobegin celebrating Newrozon Sunday, March 18, andexpanded the celebrationsinto the week. However, theTurkish Interior Ministryinsisted the celebrations beheld on March 21 instead.The BDP’s organizing commtmittee released a statementsaying the banning of thecelebrations was unacceptatable, adding that Newrozcelebrations would begin asplanned on March 18.BDP co-chair SelahattinDemirtas announced that"the meetings were prohibitited, but not the celebrattions. The [Turkish] securitty officers should not leavetheir stations; they are theones who are creating tenstsions. The [Kurdish] peoplewill celebrate Newroz." Heemphasized that Newrozhas become a symbol of thestruggle for freedom. "They[Turkish authorities] canban our celebrations, but wewill hold all of the plannedevents any way in all citiesat the planned time and loctcation," he added.BDP co-chair GultanKisanak also held a pressconference at BDP’s Istanbtbul office on March 17 inwhich he stated that NewtDemonstrators flash victory signs during a gathering to celebrate Newroz in Ankara March 18, 2012.wroz is a day of the peopleand cannot be banned. "Ourparty undertakes the restsponsibility for the Newrozorganization to meet thedemands of our people. Theruling Justice and Developmtment Party [AKP] can prevtvent our organization duty,but it can never put a ban onNewroz. Our people will bein areas everywhere; theywill celebrate their day withgreat morale, motivationand enthusiasm.”Thousands of Kurds deftfied the ban and gatheredin many cities. BetweenMarch 18-21, many wereinjured and more than 600were taken into custodyduring the demonstrations.Despite aggressive tacticsby the Turkish police, inDiyarbakir, the main cityin north Kurdistan, overone million people gatheredto march to the "NewrozPark" area where Newrozcelebrations took place. MPDemirtas and other BDPMPs were among them.The huge crowd called fora peaceful solution to theKurdish issue.In Batman province, thepolice hurled tear gas at abus carrying BDP officials,including Ahmet Turk, aprominent figure in Kurdishpolitics. Turk was physictcally attacked by police andtaken to the hospital afterwtward. From his hospitalbed, he said they are readyto pay any price for Kurditish people's freedom. "They[Turkish security forces]can't silence the Kurdishpeople by exercising terroritism and violence," he addeted. Police also beat anotherBDP MP, Ertugul Kurkcu,during celebrations in Merstsin on March 20.In Istanbul, Turkey's biggtgest city with a large Kurditish population, thousands ofKurds who wanted to celetebrate Newroz encounteredpolice truncheons and teargas. Haci Zengin, the headof an Istanbul branch officeof the BDP, died during apolice intervention againstNewroz celebrations onSunday, March 18. Istanbtbul Governor Huseyin AvniMutlu claimed that Zengindied from an asthma attackcaused by tear gas, but acctcording to information fromBDP Istanbul provincial exetecutives, he received a headwound from a gas bombhurled by police and died asa result of the injury. Manyother demonstrators werealso injured and in seriouscondition; many were takeninto custody.Another Kurdish party,the Rights and FreedomsParty (HAK-PAR), releaseda statement on demonstrattions and violence by theTurkish police in whichthey condemned the deathof Haci Zengin and said hewas the victim of the Turkitish state's harsh and violentpolicies. "Trying to preventthe right to demonstrate,which is guaranteed by theconstitution, is an abuse ofrights. We are aware thatpolicies…targeting lives orpublic property do not servepeace and democracy. Webelieve that security-orienteted politics of the [Turkish]state will lead to further imptpasse of the Kurdish issue,which is the most importantquestion of Turkey.”Meanwhile, Turkish depututy PM Bekir Bozdag saidthat governors’ offices hadtaken precautions in orderto ensure security and hadthe authority not to givepermission for demonstrattions. "Obviously the BDPand its supporters don't wantto hold demonstrations in ademocratic environment.They desire trouble andturn to demonstrations todamage public property andthreaten lives," he stated.Some Turkish journalistsalso criticized the banningof the Newroz celebrationsand use of violence bythe Turkish police. WellknownTurkish journalistMehmet Ali Birand wrotein his article in "HurriyetDaily News" that the banof Newroz demonstrationscaused great damage inIstanbul and Diyarbakir,and he emphasized that theTurkish state will pay forthis loss. "For two years,the BDP expanded thesecelebrations to the week.During recent years, thestate did not place any bans.For two years, there wasno bloodshed at the demotonstrations nor was there aMolotov cocktail thrown.This year, somehow, thestate said ‘no’ and almostprovoked these demonstrattions," he wrote.This ban on Newroz andcurrent violent events are notindependent from the securtrity approach that the Turkitish state has taken againstthe Kurdish people. Since1925, Turkey has treatedthe Kurdish national issuesolely as a security issue.This approach deals withthe issue as a concern of ordtder and finds the solution intaking military and securityactions. Recent clashes andarrests can be evaluated andseen as a paradigm of theTurkish Republic's securityapproach to the Kurdishissue. This events showsthat the policies of democrtratization, which have beenimplemented into the Kurditish issue in recent years, areseen as a conjunctural push,which covers the securityapproach instead of givingit up.Mithat Sancar, professorof law at Ankara University,wrote an article publishedin the Turkish newspaper"Taraf" about the latestdemonstrations and the failuture of the security approachto the Kurdish issue. "TheNewroz demonstration inDiyarbakir makes it obviotous that security policies,which are based on reststrictions, oppressions andviolence, are a total failure.Removing the ban would bethe most suitable responsefor the AKP government. Itwas clear that insisting onNewroz restrictions wouldjust heighten the tensionand injure the situation,"wrote Sancar.According to Cengiz Candtdar, a Turkish journalist andformer government adviser,Newroz celebrations wereforbidden because it wasassumed that thousandsof people would probablyjoin. In his article publishedin the Turkish newspaper"Radikal," Candar argued:"There are no Newroz celebtbrations. There is a massiveconflict about the Kurdishissue that makes the questtion more chronic. If theAKP government choosesto be the new inheritor ofthe restrictive state policyinstead of creating and exptpanding freedom, the Kurditish issue won't be solvedbut will become unmanageatable.”