Celebrating ‘Newroz’ in Turkey: ‘Change We Can Believe In!’

As a sign of the approach of spring, ‘Newroz’ is being welcomed in Turkey as well as being celebrated in different parts of the world from Central Asia, Northwestern China, and South Asia to Balkans. With its widely accepted meaning, Newroz is the beginning of the New Year in Persian tradition and is an indication of the end of winter and start of the spring.
Since Newroz is an old tradition whose roots date back to ancient times, numerous cultures enjoy Newroz celebrations. In Turkey, although being widely welcomed, Newroz is a day which is mostly identified with Kurdish people. Between the 18th and 21st days of March people gather together, share a festival, and jump over the Newroz fire, which is a tradition dating back to Zoroastrian times in Iran and is a sign of the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
Celebrating ‘Newroz’ in Turkey
When the socio-cultural and political atmosphere of Turkey within which the Kurdish issue has been fueled as a problem is considered, celebrating Newroz or any kind of cultural events gains numerous meanings beyond being single celebrations in Turkey. Not to blame Turkey for its intolerance of cultural events, but the context in which the celebration of a single event turns into an inferiority-superiority complex between the state and different segments of society, especially in terms of politics, should be examined in depth.
First, the historical context of the issue has been harmful for both parties of the Kurdish issue in Turkey. Although Turks and Kurds have shared hundreds of years of deep-rooted history, first under the Ottoman Empire and then in Turkey, Turkey witnessed a severe social disparity between ethnically, ideologically, or religiously differing groups and the state in parallel to several historical stages, due to numerous political transformations and the rising threat of terrorism. Kurds were the largest group in society who has severely suffered from this disparity. Above all, after the 1980s terrorism threat sparked the strict measures of the state over the Kurdish population. Between the 1980 and 1990s[1], Turkey was criticized for ‘human rights abuses’ against Kurdish militants. Moreover, many Kurdish people were evacuated from their residences, during last decade especially, due to worsening conditions of the region resulting from heavy fighting between the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) terrorists and the state’s armed forces. Although socio-economic development of the region became one of the primary concerns of the state, it has not been achieved ideally, as the state presumed. This end was much more due to the terrorism threat in the region, which made conditions unbearable for social servants employed by the state, or it was a simple result of severe infrastructure damages in the region by terrorist groups as the symbols of state’s power in the region.
What has been done so far to overcome the socio-cultural disparity is one of the questions that some Kurdish people ask. The issue was addressed in the EU Progress Reports as well as the EU 2008 Turkey Progress Report.[2] After the enduring wrongs of Turkey , especially from 1980 to 1996, including many Kurdish people’s being taken into police custody for supporting the Kurdish cause or being maltreated in prison, today’s enhanced socio-cultural rights towards detainees and towards Kurdish people is surprising for many. However, during the last decade, Turkey has been putting forth a greater effort to heal the wounds of the previous experiences with Kurdish people and to enhance the socio-cultural rights which Kurdish people have always demanded from the state. Moreover, besides socio-cultural aspects, Turkey has been making significant efforts to contribute to the economic welfare of the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey which are densely populated with Kurdish citizens.
It also can be seen that torture and maltreatment allegations have been significantly reduced due to substantial changes in Turkey’s Anti-Terror Law. Although some of its aspects are still criticized, the Law mostly complies with Turkey’s position as a member of the Council of Europe, a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and a party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In this respect, Turkey has been shifting to proactive approaches to the Kurdish issue instead of reactive approaches. In most cases, unjust treatment seems to be demolished from the scene.
Newroz’s different meaning in Turkey reflects itself in politicians’ messages and Kurdish people’s long resistance to celebrating this festival in public as well. Although the festival has been widely celebrated in Turkey for years, its ‘Kurdish’ connotations were not as welcomed by the state until the last decade. Since Turkey witnessed severe clashes between the PKK terrorists and state powers, after 1984 especially, people were hesitant towards accepting anything ‘Kurdish’ with a calm heart. Thus, Newroz celebrations in the last decade and state officials’ support of these activities are very meaningful, as they are the signs of real changes in mentality towards the Kurdish issue in Turkey. In this sense, the last Newroz celebrations on March 21st were a lively picture of this shifting way of thinking.
Valuing Celebrations as a Chance to Bring Cultures Together
Considering the sociopolitical aspects of common celebrations, the U.S. President Obama seems to be among those who value these events as a chance to bring cultures together as well as to transfer political messages in a peaceful atmosphere. The U.S. President’s video message for the celebration of Newroz directly addressed Iranian leaders and was aiming to stop Iran’s state support of terrorism and to call for Iran to take peaceful actions. He concluded his speech with a reference to Saadi, who is one of the major Persian poets of the 12th century: “The children of Adam are limbs to each other, having been created of one essence” and with a Persian phrase celebrating Newroz: ”Eid-eh Shoma Mobarak.” The message, which is accepted as a “historical gesture,” jumped over cultural, religious, and language barriers, since it contained a direct reference to the common essences of the Abrahamic religions, a reference to the significance of Persian culture for world civilization, and lastly, with the Persian phrase meaning “Happy New Year.” This significant attempt was a slight but meaningful sign of the US’ getting rid of its superiority complexes of sharing the same belief of genesis with Muslims and hailing their language and culture in accordance.
President Obama’s message reminds us of the inner complexes of our own culture which have been fed by the ethnocentric approaches of decades-long disputes confining us within our borders. What we seek is not some pragmatic message towards different groups in Turkey, yet, what we expect is sincere attempts of Turkish politicians to bring people together without making any differentiation on gender, cultural background, religion, or language. This stance will slowly but surely help the abolishment of the cultural barriers in Turkey as which has been tried to be accomplished in the last decade. In this respect Turkish governors’ and officials’ Newroz messages were noteworthy, for they all underlined the importance of peace and solidarity among people of Turkey.
Governors and state officials’ attempts to get in contact with diverse segments of society is not a Newroz-specific event in Turkey. Since Turkey has been acknowledging the significance of every single individual’s feeling at home in the country, state officials started to take concrete actions on numerous grounds. In this sense, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s celebrating public saying ‘TRT Shesh li ser xêrê be’ —May TRT 6 be auspicious— in Kurdish after state-funded Kurdish channel TRT 6 started broadcasting was a late but appreciable attempt towards appeasing Kurdish people’s demands on broadcasting in their own language as well as valuing their language. Likely, previous words of the Chief of the Turkish General Staff, Ilker Basbug, can also be analyzed within the same context. In one of his visits to the region, saying ‘We love Diyarbakir,’ which is one of the southeastern provinces of Turkey and is densely populated with Kurdish citizens, the General also contributed to the perception of Kurdish people as equal citizens of the Turkish state. Since the army has been considered and represented as an opponent of any expansion in rights in Kurdish issue up until now, the General’s words were more than meaningful. Although being an obedient citizen of Turkey has long been kept above one’s other identities[3]; the state officials’ and governors’ attempts should be valued as remarkable initiatives when the historical context of the Kurdish issue is considered.
Not only Newroz, but any festival with cultural roots should be considered a chance to make people feel they share common roots, happiness, sorrows, and aims although all follow different paths toward that end. As it can easily be predicted, such a stance cannot be reached by unsympathetic comments on people’s attempts to enhance their rights in their country but by employing all possible means to satisfy expectations of people from their state. Whether we believe it or not, politics is a large part of the issue, thus, it is somehow responsible for the unsolved problems of Kurdish people in Turkey. Moreover, not only politicians, but also common people are responsible as well for the deadlocks in the Kurdish issue in Turkey. Since it is ‘we’ who will dance hand in hand regardless of people’s cultural backgrounds and it is again ‘we’ who will jump over the ‘fire’ which has been fueled in Turkey for decades by the sorrows and losses of the parties of this dispute.

Dilek Aydemir
e-mail: daydemir@usak.org.tr