JINHA

NEWS CENTER – Thousands of colorfully dressed citizens have lent a carnival atmosphere to the town of Halfeti, the native region of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, hosting the celebrations of the leader's 66^th birthday.

The town, in Urfa province, has attracted an influx of people from across Kurdistan to the central ParqaAzadiyê (Freedom Park), now hung with gigantic posters of the jailed PKK leader along with flags of the KCK, PKK, YPG and YPJ. Photographs of PKK cadrosslain throughout the years also decorate the arena. Celebrations will kick off at 3 p.m.

TUHAD-FED, a group that organizes legal support for families of political prisoners, is coordinating the celebration, managing the security checks at both entrances to the area. Every road in town is flooded with citizens wearing their colorful traditional clothes and chanting slogans in support of the leader. The people of Halfeti have volunteered their homes to house the visitors.

With dozens of vehicles decorated with the slogan "journey towards the sun" setting out from Diyarbakır today for Halfeti, hundreds of people will reach the celebrations on foot, in marches demanding freedom for Öcalan.

A main march, heading to Halfeti today from Urfa, visited the site where, in 2009, soldiers shot two people, MahsumKaraoğlan and Mustafa Dağ, in an attempt to suppress a similar freedom march coinciding with Öcalan's birthday. The celebration in Öcalan's native village has taken place for the last 11 years.

Another of the marches, heading from Adıyman, passed through Gogan a Mezin. A youth march started at the Kobanê border village of Mehser yesterday. A fourth set out from Antep, passing through Birecik today.

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