subject: The First Nowroz Protest in the Iraqi Kurdistan region [print this page] The First Nowroz Protest in the Iraqi Kurdistan region
Nowroz or "New Day" is a Kurdish celebration festival held every year on March 20th. The actual day is on March 21st, it marks the first day of spring and new year in Kurdish calendar. Also it has a symbolic connotation for the Kurds, they believe that on that day, the Kurds were freed from a tyrant king named Zouhak. So, it always connotes freedom along with renewal hopes.
The festival is celebrated by Kurds all around the world and especially in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. As Iraqi Kurdistan enjoys a semi free Kurdish government, the people have commemorated the celebration more freely and different from other parts. They, until now, used to prefer going outdoors and spend a day far from the crowd city. As a result, cities were empty of people and touristic places full of exciting people.
Since protests begun on February 17th in Sulaimania against the corruption in the region and several demonstrators were shot dead and many others were injured, the civil disobedience keeps on defying the governments' crackdown on protesters. Now the protest has reached almost every city in the region. Though in cities like Erbil and Duhok any attempt would be opposed strongly by security forces.
Accordingly, this year the nature of celebration is quite different from the previous practices and has changed obviously. The demonstrators commemorated the celebration along with their protest. A kind of strange interaction takes place between the two events. The fire, symbol for Nowroz, has set up by the relatives of those who lost their loved ones. More importantly, the festival takes place in the city centers with the most symbolic one inSulaimania Saray azadi square, like Tahrir square in Cairo.
It is the first time that Nowroz commemoration coincides with wide demonstration in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991. In sulaimani, today afternoon tens of thousands took to the main square in the city as a sign of their defiance against the government. The protesters say that they are determined to continue their uprising till their demands will be fulfilled. They demand putting an end for the interference of ruling parties in the government affairs and the wide range of corruption that paralyzed the daily life of the people.
