The first fire of this year's Newroz was lit in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin on Sunday. According to the organisers, about 2,500 people took part in the celebration at Oranienplatz. The programme included cultural performances by well-known Kurdish artists as well as political speeches.

Newroz is the Kurdish New Year on 21 March. On this day, Kurds all over the world celebrate the beginning of a new year. Newroz means "the new day". It arose from the spirit of resistance of the Kurdish people and developed over the years into a celebration of political resistance against oppression and despotism. It also represents the end of winter and welcomes spring.

As a festival of rebirth, it first gained importance among the Kurdish people and was later adopted by other Iranian peoples. Kurds, Afghans, Persians, Baluchis and Tajiks celebrate this festival today, and they have all added their own national customs to it. The Newroz festival is probably the oldest Kurdish festival.

According to the organisers, the fact that the celebration in Berlin was brought forward this year is an act of solidarity. The background is the earthquake catastrophe in Kurdistan, Turkey and Syria a good month ago. The Kurdish Red Crescent Heyva Sor a Kurdistanê, which provides humanitarian aid in the Kurdish disaster area, accepted numerous donations during the celebration.

The musical programme included performances by Nevşan, Özgür Işık, Bengi Agirî, Beser Şahin, Hozan Aydın and Hani Mojtahedy. Speeches were made by Ilham Ehmed, the co-chair of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (MSD), who travelled from Rojava, and Sezai Temelli, who is a member of parliament in Ankara for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

ILHAM EHMED: RESISTANCE AGAINST OCCUPATION CONTINUES RESOLUTELY

Summarising the current situation in North and East Syria, Ilham Ehmed stressed that the Turkish occupation in the areas of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) is torpedoing democratic political efforts towards a peace settlement. "The only way towards a free and democratic Syria is a political transition inclusive of all the peoples residing in the country, in line with the legitimate democratic aspirations of the Syrian nation." In order to embark on this path, she said, it is necessary to end the Turkish occupation supported by jihadist militias. "The Kurdish people and all other communities in AANES are determined to resolutely continue their resistance for freedom and democracy," she underlined.

SEZAI TEMELLI: FIGHTING AGAINST A REGIME OF INJUSTICE

HDP politician Sezai Temelli drew up a kind of "damage assessment" with regard to Turkey and spoke of a "regime of injustices" that dominates the country led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP party. He stated: “This tyranny has transformed Turkey into an autocracy and destroyed democratic institutions. From the very beginning, the policies of Erdogan and his party have been aimed at the question of how to gain and maintain government power. In order to maintain its own existence, the regime has turned the country into a single prison, with practically the entire population in isolation. Members of all minorities and oppressed peoples are terrorised daily and with increasing violence. There is no institution, no social structure and no place that is not affected by homogenisation and political oppression. The HDP is there to oppose and fight against these injustices. Fighting for democracy, fighting for freedom. This is our ideal that we will achieve."