TRAVERSE

THE INSIDER
I
n Kurdish, New Year’s day is called Newroz, the contemporary struggle. This region also recogwhich
means a new day. Newroz has been nizes Mazlum Dogan, who also burned himself,
celebrated as a national holiday since 612 as a contemporary “Kavah” against colonial
B.C. It is important to the Kurds not only domination. Since then, many young men and
because it is the beginning of their new year, but women burn themselves to salute and celebrate the
also because it marks the day that their national struggle for independence on Newroz in north
existence was first recognized. It was on this day in western Kurdistan.
612 B.C. that the ancestors of the Kurds united to In many Newroz celebrations the main message
resist and rebel against the leading great power at has been the unity of the people. In 1988, four
the time, the Assyrian empire and constitute days before Newroz, in southern Kurdistan, over
confederation of Median principle.
eight thousand Kurdish people were massacred by
The victory against this empire resulted in liberation chemical weapons. Today many thousands of the
for the people of this region. This is the reason why victims still suffer from this inhumane act by the
the people of Kurdistan, Iran and Afghanistan all government of Iraq.
celebrate Newroz, but in their own different ways. Newroz of 1992 had a certain significance for
There is another side to Newroz. Newroz falls north-western Kurdistan, since this is a day of
on the first day of spring. Spring is a time of “betrayal”. For the first time in seventy years, the
transformation on Earth. After a cold and dark Turkish security force, police and army, agreed to
winter in the mountains of Kurdistan, spring allow for a peaceful Newroz celebration. However,
brings warmth and new life to the land and the going against their word, they attacked the
people whose beliefs are bound with nature. For defenseless Kurdish civilians. Newroz of 1995 was
those who have never seen the spring of Kurdistan no different than the last few years since Iranian,
it is hard to imagine. The beauty is indescribable. Iraqi, and Turkish governments still continue to
Newroz has become an important event in the terrorize Kurdish people. Kurdish people have
life of the Kurdish nation. After World War I, been recording intimidating military build-up that
Kurdish borders were determined by regional and has been occurring in the middle of Kurdistan
international political powers, therefore disuniting from the aggressive powers. More and more
the Kurdish people. Today, Kurdistan is divided Kurdish people believe that in order to destroy
into five regions which have been occupied by Iran, the un-united Kurdistan the boarders need to be
Iraq, Turkey, Syria, and the Soviet Union. Because changed to one boundary not five borders.
of this, Newroz is celebrated in five separate A Chinese proverb claims that a thousand mile
regions in the middle east.
journey starts with a single step. This is true for
The festival is not legal in every part of Newroz which began as a single day in a year.
Kurdistan. This Kurdish national day was prohibited
by the Turkish government since 1923 and is people and country. In the 2607 years that have
Newroz is a single step towards liberating our
one of the reasons why Kurdish people of
passed, our beliefs concerning Newroz remains
north-western Kurdistan demonstrate extraordinary
resistance against aggressive rules. In Newroz celebrate it as the New Year and as the day of
the same. When we celebrate Newroz, we still
1982, one of the original founders of the “Kurdish national unity and revolution that lead to liberty
Worker Party and Liberation Struggle” burned for the Kurds in the past and will lead to liberty
himself to death to celebrate Newroz and salute once again in the future.
32 TRAVERSE