Newroz Piroz Be!

[root at newsdesk.aps.nl]

From: newsdesk at newsdesk.aps.nl (Newsdesk Amsterdam)
Subject: Re: Newroz Piroz Be!
Reply-To: root at newsdesk.aps.nl

Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org> writes:

>Sender: Kurdistan Committee of Canada <kcc at magi.com>
>Subject: Newroz Piroz Be!
>
>Newroz Piroz Be!
>
>	Every year on March 21st, the Kurdish people celebrate Newroz. In 
>the Kurdish language, Newroz means "new day", by which the Kurds mean the 
>first day of spring. The Kurdish calendar begins on this day. Newroz, 
>therefore, is the new day, the first day of spring, the first day of the 
>new year.
>	The Kurdish nation has been celebrating Newroz since the time of 
>ancient history. This tradition dates back to the myth of Kawa the 
>Blacksmith. On March 21st in the year 612 B.C., Kawa killed the Assyrian 
>tyrant Dehak and liberated the Kurds and many other peoples in the Middle 
>East. Dehak was an evil king who represented cruelty, abuse, and the 
>enslavement of peoples. People used to pray every day for God to help 
>them to get rid of Dehak. On Newroz day, Kawa led a popular uprising and 
>surrounded Dehak's palace. Kawa then rushed passed the king's guards and 
>grabbed Dehak by the neck. Kawa then struck the evil tyrant on the head 
>with a hammer and dragged him off his throne. With this heroic deed, Kawa 
>set the people free and proclaimed freedom throughout the land. A huge 
>fire was light on the mountain tops to send a message: firstly to thank 
>God for helping them defeat Dehak, and secondly to the people to tell 
>them they were free. This is where the tradition of the Newroz fire 
>originates.
>	Today, Newroz is not just a day for remembering, it is also a day 
>for protest and resistance against the oppression which the Kurdish 
>people continue to suffer from. Since the recent struggle for national 
>liberation began, some Kurdish martyrs used their own bodies to carry the 
>flames of Newroz, including Mazlum Dogan and the woman named Zekiye, who 
>burned themselves to death to protest against the barbarism inflicted on 
>the Kurds by the Turkish government. And last year, in 1994, Ronahi and 
>Berivan burned themselves to death in Germany to protest the interior 
>ministry's decision to ban the PKK/ERNK more than 30 other Kurdish 
>organizations and to protest the violent attacks by German police on 
>Kurdish Newroz celebrations.
>	In Turkish-occupied Kurdistan, resistance actions from the 
>civilian population have given the Newroz festival new life. But year 
>after year, the Turkish state reacts to Kurdish cries for 
>self-determination with violence and massacres. During Newroz in 1992, 
>demonstrations and celebrations were attacked by the Turkish military and 
>more than 100 people were killed. Shortly before Newroz in 1993, PKK 
>General Secretary Abdullah Ocalan announced a unilateral cease-fire to 
>initiate a political dialogue with the Ankara government and to prevent a 
>repeat of the massacres in 1992. But despite this, a Newroz festival in 
>Adana was attacked by the Turkish state and 4 people were killed and 54 
>Kurdish villages were destroyed by Turkish bombardments.
>	Newroz 1994 coincided with Ankara's attempts to hold local 
>elections in the civil war provinces. But after the offices of the 
>Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP) were repeatedly bombed and several DEP 
>officials murdered, the DEP pulled out of the elections, although they 
>surely would have won an absolute majority if the elections had been 
>fair. International observer delegations reported wide-spread human 
>rights violations during Newroz 1994.
>	It is important that the international public recognize the 
>realities of Turkish state terrorism. In the last few years, more than 
>2,000 Kurdish villages have been destroyed by the Turkish military and 
>more than 3 million Kurds have been forced to become refugees. And what 
>about democracy in Turkey? The Kurdish DEP party MPs, who were officially 
>elected to the Turkish Parliament, saw their party banned in 1994 and 
>their constitutional immunity lifted. One DEP MP, Mehmet Sincar, was 
>murdered. Six managed to escape to Europe. But seven others, including 
>Leyla Zana, the first Kurdish woman ever elected to the Turkish 
>Parliament, faced the death penalty last December in front of Turkey's 
>highest court before being given jail terms as long as 15 years. What was 
>their crime? They were Kurds who tried to defend the Kurdish people's 
>basic democratic rights. Democracy to Turkey, however, means the 
>imprisoning, torturing, and killing of journalists (in the last three 
>years alone, 32 journalists and newspaper distributors have been killed 
>in Turkey, the country which also has the highest number of journalists 
>in prison, 74), the bombing and closure of all pro-Kurdish news agencies 
>- such as Ozgur Gundem (Free Agenda) and Ozgur Ulke (Free Land), whose 
>offices were completely destroyed in a bomb attack in December 1994 
>before being officially banned in February 1995 - and the elimination of 
>Kurdish lawyers, intellectuals, and human rights workers. All of these 
>activities are sanctioned by Prime Minister Tansu Ciller. This is how 
>Turkey fulfills its promise to the West to promote democracy and respect 
>human rights.
>	Newroz 1995 started off with bad news for the Kurdish people. The 
>Canadian government announced that it plans to sell 39 CF-5 warplanes to 
>Turkey, planes which will certainly be used to bomb Kurdish civilians. 
>And on March 20, the day before Newroz, Turkey launched the biggest 
>military operation in its history. At this moment, more than 50,000 
>Turkish troops are in South Kurdistan. Turkish warplanes are bombing 
>refugee camps throughout South Kurdistan, and hundreds of refugees and 
>civilians have been arrested. It seems that Tansu Ciller and Iraq's 
>dictator Saddam Hussein, with the support of the United States and other 
>NATO countires, have made a plan to wipe out Kurdish autonomy in South 
>Kurdistan and crush the Kurdish national liberation struggle. Turkey's 
>invasion of South Kurdistan - an area which is supposed to be a 
>UN-protected "safe haven" for Kurdish people - shows that the Turkish 
>government is not interested in dialogue; they continue to insist on a 
>military solution to the Kurdish question.
>	At present, the world's 40 million Kurds, the largest people in 
>the world without their own state, are a persecuted nation living under 
>foreign occupation. The Kurdish situation today is similar to their 
>situation back in the days when King Dehak enslaved the ancient Kurds. 
>Saddam Hussein of Iraq is much worse than Dehak. He is carrying out 
>genocide against the Kurdish people in Iraq. The army and police in 
>Turkey are no better than Dehak's thugs. And officials in Iran exploit 
>and enslave the people of the Kurdish regions of Iran just as Dehak's 
>agents did in the past.
>	Kurdistan must be free. The Kurdish people need a voice in 
>international affairs. With the banning of the Democracy Party in 1994 
>and the imprisonment and exile of its MPs, the Kurdish people decided to 
>find a way to represent themselves. With all democratic channels and 
>freedom of expression blocked in Turkey, the Kurds have decided to 
>establish a Parliament of Kurdistan in Exile. This Parliament will be 
>opened in Brussels, Belgium on April 12. The opening of this Parliament 
>is proof that the Kurdish people want to find a peaceful and democratic 
>solution to the Kurdish question.
>	Let us raise the flag of freedom and justice! We cannot remain 
>silent in the face of the massacres which the Kurdish people are 
>suffering. Now is the time for all people to show their solidarity and 
>support the national liberation struggle in Kurdistan. This struggle is 
>not just for Kurdistan, it is for all humanity. No one can be free until 
>we all are free.
>	We are calling on everyone to celebrate Newroz according to its 
>original spirit of resistance. Newroz does not just belong to the Kurdish 
>people, it is a possession for all oppressed peoples and for all of 
>humanity. We believe the spirit and actions of Newroz can give strength 
>to all humanity to end injustice and oppression. We say "Newroz Piroz Be! 
>- Happy Newroz!" to all our people and to all our friends and to all of 
>humanity.
>
>Newroz Piroz Be!
>Long live the Parliament of Kurdistan in Exile!
>Long live the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)!
>Long live the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK)!
>Long live the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK)!
>Long live Serok Apo!
>
>
>

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