DİYARBAKIR - The people who flocked to the Newroz celebration in Diyarbakır where the people spoke their word, once again shouted out: "Your walls and barricades will not stop us!"

 

The 50th anniversary of the celebration at the 1973 Çubuk Dam, where the Kurdish people lit the first fire of resistance in these lands, was greeted with great enthusiasm. Newroz was celebrated with the spirit of resistance that day. Heralding the spring after a harsh winter, the Kurdish people put up a great resistance and marched to Newroz. The Newroz fire, which was lit on the outskirts of Kato on March 15 to shout out the importance of Kurdish unity, spreaded from Şırnak to Mardin, from Kızıltepe to Aydın, from İzmir to Istanbul, from Van to Bazid. On March 21, everyone's eyes turned to Diyarbakır.

 

A PEOPLE THAT MARCHES TO BARRICADES BRAVELY

 

When we make our way to Newroz Park, where the celebration will take place, from the early hours of the morning, we see that the entire neighborhood has been closed with barricades. The people, who shuttle between the doors in the area where even the press is not allowed to enter until 10:00, are walking from the fields to the barricades. Meanwhile, a mother's voice rises: "They put up so many barricades just so we wouldn't come. We'll get in no matter what they do."

 

A group of young people who were walking headlong into the mud were stopped by the police standing at the barricades and looked at their IDs. As the young people who broke through the police barrier continue their walk, one of them warns the others: "Whatever they say, say okay, go ahead. Police is here to cause provocation."

 

CELEBRATION STARTS IN FRONT OF THE BARRICADES

 

When we reached the entrance on Qamishlo Boulevard, we hear that thousands of people waiting in front of the barricades are warning each other about the rub down search. While the slogans do not stop for a moment, people are started to enter the area as well as the provocations that aim to make people give up on the insistance to celebrate Newroz. The police, who set up barricades in three separate rows, try every way not to let the crowd in. Rub down searches amounting to harassment are imposed on the people who wait for hours to enter the area. The people, who turned the waiting into resistance, carry Newroz behind the barricades with their slogans, marches and dances, and the first celebration begins in front of the barricades.

 

POLICE THINKS THERE IS SO MUCH INJUSTICE! 

 

As the crowd approached the pcheck points established by the police, a new check point is set up in front of them. I hear the police chatting with each other with batons in their hands. One of them says to the other, "There is so much injustice." Other one agrees, "Yes. Criticism is not tolerated. Why do they ban a theater or a song if it doesn't contain any insuts' while waving their batons at people trying to enter the park, saying it is forbidden." Slogans, turmoil and strife do not effect their conversation. They continue to list the things they are bothered by. Referring to President Erdoğan as 'That man', they say, "Why isn't he thinking about these problems and we do?" The critical thinking of the police comes to an end when it comes to Kurds and they continue to wave their batons at the people who are trying to get to the other side of the barricades.

 

'IT WON'T GET BETTER BEFORE WE BLOW IT TO SMITHEREENS'

 

The longer the crowd is held waiting, the greater the excitement and the tension gets. People want to pour into the area and become Newroz. Meanwhile a group knocks over the barricades and shouts "Heta xerab nebe çênabe" (It won't getter before we blow it to smithereens). People respond to police attack with resistance.

 

Everyone who passes through the barricades starts shouting, "Be serok jiyan nabê" and "Biji Serok Apo."

 

THE WILL THAT BREAKS DOWN THE WALL

 

There was a rumour going on for days in Diyarbakır that the police were not content with the iron barricades and they set up 4 meter high fences. Even though I knew that the youth won't accept that fence, I wanted to see it with my own eyes. I followed the young men and women running to the stage and stones started to fly around. Even though the police tried to protect themselves with their shields, they continued to resist. One of them climbed up the fence doing a victory sign. Carrying red, yellow and green flags, the young men and women showed that no barricades can crush their will.  In the tension that lasted for hours both at the gates and around the stage, it was the popular resistance that won.

 

The young men and women on the fence reminded me of a poem written by Nazım Hikmet. They seemed to be shouting out that poem with their stance;

 

"That wall

That wall of yours

cannot stop us"

 

 

 

MA / Dicle Müftüoğlu