MESOP NEWS TODAY : NEWRUZ THIS YEAR ONLY IN ERDOGAN’S JAILS ?

HDP Asks Turkey not to Ban Nawroz

Shoguna B. Sobir – 11/03/2017 – 02:54 – BasNews – ISTANBUL — Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has made a request to the Turkish authorities to allow the public celebrations of the holiday Nawroz in Turkey.Nawroz is celebrated by Kurds, as well as 300 million other people in multiple countries located in the Balkans, Western Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Black Sea Basin, and the Middle East. It is included in the UN’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Nawroz means new day and is celebrated as the beginning of the new year, which falls on the astronomical vernal equinox, when the day and night are of approximately equal in duration all over the planet, which usually falls on March 21.

In 2016 public celebrations of Nawroz were banned in multiple cities throughout Turkey.HDP representatives have applied to relevant authorities asking for permission to hold Nawroz celebrations in 33 centers in Turkey. The celebrations are planned to be held in the town of Nusaybin in the Mardin Province on March 17 and are set to end on March 21, in Diyarbakir.Let no one extinguish the fire of Newroz,” said HDP Spokesperson Osman Baydemir, referring to the traditional gathering around the fire during this holiday, as quoted by Kurdistan24. Considering the recent intensification of tensions between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) -ruled Turkish government and the HDP, which it accuses of being affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the chances that the request may be granted is quite uncertain.   www.mesop.de