JINHA

 NEWS CENTER – Newroz celebrations continue today in the Çukurova region of Turkey, with tens of thousands in attendance for the Kurdish national holiday. Ongoing celebrations in the cities of Adana, Mersin, Antalya and Hatay have drawn tens of thousands of attendees so far.

 Red, green and yellow decorations as well as posters of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, fighters who lost their lives in Kobanê and revolutionaries from across Turkey have decorated Newroz celebrations across Turkey's southeastern Mediterranean region of Çukurova.

 Tens of thousands of citizens headed for the celebration in Mersin from neighborhoods around the city as well as from the outlying regions of the Mediterranean province. The slogan "long live the leader Apo" has rung out over the festivities since the early morning. Women have prepared a "fraternity table" to communally share food.

The Newroz Organizing Committee in the city has decorated the area with red, green and yellow banners and a large poster of Abdullah Öcalan with the legend "you are the architect of peace and freedom." The Committee says they have assigned volunteers to take precautions against possible provocations at the event. Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MPs and representatives will begin their speeches soon.

 In Adana, thousands headed for the Mimar Sinan Open-Air Show Center for the celebration. Police attempted to block those wearing t-shirts reading "Kurdistan" (widely sold by street vendors at the event), but citizens eventually succeeded in bringing the t-shirts into the celebration. Citizens chanted slogans in support of the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and the people of Hesekê, whose Newroz celebrations were attacked on Friday by Daesh bombings. The Newroz fire was lit by the wife of Kadri Bağdu, the distributor of Kurdish newspaper Azadiya Welat who was slain in Adana last year.

 The İskenderun town in Hatay is also seeing a large Newroz celebrations, with posters wishing a happy Newroz hung in 11 different languages. Slogans celebrating the fraternity of people were dominant at the event, where posters of Abdullah Öcalan and the three Kurdish women slain in Paris decorated the arena. HDP Urfa MP İbrahim Binici will light the Newroz fire today, followed by speeches and music.

 The Kepez area of Adana drew tens of thousands for a celebration, with traditional Kurdish dancing to the tune of drums and pipes continuing since early this morning. HDP MP and İmralı Delegation member Pervin Buldan and Van co-mayor Bekir Kaya have traveled to the celebration to give speeches at the celebration.

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