Kurdish people from all over North Kurdistan and Turkey have started to arrive in the Halfeti district of Urfa where celebrations for the 66th birthday of the Kurdish Leader Abdullah Öcalan will take place. Giant posters of the Kurdish Leader have been hung all around the town as well as the flags of the KCK, PKK, YPG and the YPJ. The celebration will take place at Parqa Azadiye today.

People who reached the rally field yesterday started the celebrations with the fires lit, while early this morning many other people continued to arrive in Halfeti. The celebrations are organised by TUHAD-FED, which is also taking care of the security in the town by setting up two check points in the entrances. Cars are not allowed to enter the town centre, while the people reaching the town march to the town centre with the posters and placards they carry. Many people are dressed in traditional Kurdish clothes, chanting slogans demanding the freedom of the Kurdish leader.

People mainly from Yüksekova, Eruh, Silopi and Serhat in North Kurdistan and some other places of Turkey have so far arrived in Halfeti, while many others are expected to arrive today. Over 70 tents have been set up in the park area for the guests and the people of Halfeti are preparing to host around 10 thousand people in their houses. The celebration will start today at 15:00.

In the meantime, the march from Urfa is about to reach Halfeti after the marchers visited the place where Mahsum Karaoglan and Mustafa Dağ were shot dead by Turkish soldiers in 2009. The march that started from Adıyaman is now about to reach Gogan a Mezin after the marchers were welcomed in Gogan a Bicuk village. The youth who started a march yesterday from Mehser on the border with Kobane are also heading towards Halfeti. Meanwhile, marchers from a fourth direction, from Antep, have also passed Birecik.