DATE=3/21/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY / KURDS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260438
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Tens of thousands of Kurds in Turkey have
gathered around bonfires, singing Kurdish songs to
celebrate their New Year, called Newroz [pron: nev-
`ROOZ]. As Amberin Zaman reports from Ankara,
Turkey's government has officially permitted the
festivities for the first time in years.
TEXT: In the largest Kurdish city, Diyarbakir, men
and women gathered in a huge open space designated by
local authorities to celebrate the Kurdish New Year,
amid tight security measures.
The city's popular young mayor, Feridun Celik, helped
light a huge bonfire and called for peace,
brotherhood, and freedom, as hundreds of police --
backed by armored personnel carriers -- looked on
impassively.
Elsewhere across the country, similar scenes were
repeated.
Newroz, which means "new beginning" in Kurdish, marks
the start of the spring season. Until recently, it
also marked the beginning of the spring offensive by
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, the P-K-K,
against government security forces in the forbidding
mountain ranges of Turkey's largely Kurdish
southeastern region.
As the 15-year rebellion raged on, Newroz became a
platform for nationalist Kurds to express their
sympathy for P-K-K rebels. In 1992, at least 80
demonstrators died in two southeastern towns (Cizre
and Sirnak) in a showdown with the security forces.
Ever since, local government officials have banned
Newroz celebrations. But the capture last year of
P-K-K leader Abdullah Ocalan, followed by his call for
an end to his supporters' armed separatist campaign,
has led to a dramatic decline in rebel violence.
Buoyed by the budding climate of peace, Turkish
officials have begun to relax some of the security
measures. And this year's Newroz celebrations are the
first to be officially sanctioned in a long time.
/// REST OPT ///
Still, there have been minor problems. Officials from
the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party, or Hadep,
said authorities in Istanbul barred them from holding
Newroz celebrations, because they used the Kurdish
rather than the Turkish spelling for Newroz in their
application.
Restrictions on use of the Kurdish language remain in
force. Easing of bans on broadcasting and education
in the Kurdish language are demands embraced both by
Hadep and the P-K-K, as well as by the European Union,
which Turkey wants to join as a full member.
(Signed)
NEB/AZ/JWH/WTW
21-Mar-2000 12:41 PM EDT (21-Mar-2000 1741 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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