Newroz in Izmir: We will overthrow this sultanate!

Despite rainy weather, thousands of people took part in a central Newroz rally in Izmir, western Turkey.

In Izmir, western Turkey, thousands of people took part in a central rally to mark the Kurdish New Year, Newroz, despite rainy weather. The gathering at Gündoğdu Square began with speeches by representatives of the HDP, the Peace Mothers Initiative, SYKP (Socialist Reconstruction Party) and the trade union federation KESK. Numerous civil society organizations and other political parties as well as women's organizations and civil rights associations were also represented.

HDP deputy Serpil Kemalbay greeted the crowd in Kurdish and Turkish and directly addressed the ban on her party at the beginning of her speech. Addressing the presidential palace, the politician said, "The closure procedure against the HDP basically represents nothing more than an acceleration of its own downfall. The government is thus catapulting itself onto the trash heap of history." Kemalbay also criticized Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention to Combat Violence Against Women. She said that with this fly-by-night action, the government had once again demonstrated its "anti-women mentality." "We are determined to overthrow this sultanate," Kemalbay stressed.

HDP Vice Chairman Saruhan Oluç also addressed the threat of a party ban, saying that the HDP is dealing with a government that is "rotting". It is a state leadership that lacks political ethics and human values and seeks to guarantee its existence by attacking the representatives of the peoples of Turkey, he said. "The government is steering the country toward its downfall step by step. But it cannot destroy us. We are here because we are the people, and we are fighting. Because we are the companions of the Kawa the Blacksmith. Our resistance is against the modern tyrants like Dehak was. That is why we will win."