JINHA

 ISTANBUL – The Newroz celebration in Istanbul drew thousands to the Kazlıçeşme neighborhood under the slogan "the Newroz fire burning in Shengal and Kobanê will liberate the Middle East."

 The Newroz program drew participants from struggles across Istanbul—from Kurdish and Turkish to Armenian and Circassian, from anarchist and socialist to working-class and pro-democracy forces—to Kazlıçeşme Square starting this morning.

 Youth groups started a march under gigantic red, green and yellow flags around 200 meters away. As they marched towards the police checkpoints set up at three points around Kazlıçeşme Square, the youths began to chant "long live the leader Apo" and overcame the police barricades to enter the square. On the opposite side of the square, political parties and platforms marched under the banner of the Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK) umbrella group to the square, with the message "greetings to those resisting in Kobanê." They bore photographs of YPG/YPJ and internationalist fighters who lost their lives in Kobanê.

 The main platform in the square was decorated with immense posters of Turkey revolutionaries İbrahim Kaypakkaya, Deniz Geçmiş, Mazlum Doğan, Mahir Çayan and PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) banners bedecked the stage.

 One hundred journalists have been in position just across from the platform from early in the day. The sound systems and screens set up in the square are prepared to reach two million viewers.  Traveling salesman are set up around the square providing food and drink. The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has been providing buses from 34 separate regions around Istanbul to bring people to the square. The influx of attendees is continuing.

 Women dressed in the colors of Newroz entered the square running and ululating, whereas many of the men were dressed in the traditional Kurdish şal û şepik. The thousands in the square frequently chanted slogans in favor of the freedom of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

 The Newroz program will start at noon with greetings and continue with the lighting of the gigantic Newroz torch set up near the platform. HDP provincial co-chairs will great the crowd. Abdullah Öcalan's historic message, first read at the Diyarbakır Newroz celebration yesterday, will be broadcast again. Selahattin Demirtaş, the HDP's General Co-Chair, and Sebahat Tuncel, the party's Co-Speaker, will speak at the event. The Mesopotamia Culture Center's chorus, Kawa and Grup Munzur will be among the musical performers.

 (ekip/mg/cm)