Akre IRAQ – The Kurds in Iraq and Syria marked this week the Newroz Festival, a traditional celebration of spring and renewal, at a time when many expect a new political beginning to be on the horizon.
Newroz, the word in Farsi language for “New Year”, is a former Persian festival that is celebrated in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Türkiye and Iran. It is characterized by colorful street festivals and processions that support torches that break through the mountains.
For many, the festivities of Newroz on Thursday and Friday symbolized not only the arrival of spring but also the spirit and aspirations of the Kurdish people, which now face a moment of transformation in the region.
The Syrian Democratic Forces led by Kurdo, which is carried out in much of the Northeast of Syria, recently signed a historical agreement with the new government in Damascus that includes a high fire and the eventual fusion of the SDF in the Syrian army.
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has fought an insurgency of decades in Turkey that has spread to the conflict in Syria and northern Iraq, recently announced a high fire after the group imprisoned by the group, Abdullah Ocalan, asked that its members leave their weapons.
When the Sun stood behind Akre’s mountains in the semi -autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq on Thursday, more than 1,500 volunteers climbed the steep hills, carrying burning torches while their faces shone in the light of the flame.
From a distance, their movements looked like a river of fire that flowed through the mountain. In the upper part, small bonfires were burned, while the sky was filled with the intermittent colors of the fireworks.
Women who wore colorful dresses with gold and silver jewels and men dressed in traditional attire with wide belts and turbans danced in the streets of the city and in the hills, kurdish flags that wave on the crowds.
The sound of the Dahol battery and the flutes of Zurna resonated everywhere, mixed with modern folk songs kurdas played on the speakers.
According to the Akre Tourism Directorate, some 88,000 people attended the event, including the Kurds that traveled from the entire region and the world. Substantial participation occurred despite the fact that this year the festival coincides with Ramadan, during which many Kurds, such as other Muslims, quickly from dawn to sunset daily.
Among those who danced in La Colina was Huzan Jalil, who traveled from the city of Batman in Türkiye. Jalil said he is happy with the peace process and with the hope that he has results, although it was also something circumspect.
“I hope it does not end with regrets and our Kurdish people are not deceived or deceived,” he said.
Jalil told him that Newroz represents the unity among the Kurds through national borders.
“This year, Newroz for me symbolizes the point of achieving freedom for all Kurds,” he said.
For the people of Akre, Newroz has become a tradition that connects them with the Kurds and others everywhere. An Akre store described his pride in organizing such a celebration in his city.
“It is a great feeling that everyone around the world arrives in Akre for this celebration because it makes Akre the capital of Newroz for everyone,” said Guevara Fawaz. He was walking through the main square of the city with his family dressed in traditional Kurdish clothes. Like Jalil, he expressed hope that PKK-Turkey conversations progress and “achieve peace in the four parts of Kurdistan.”
On the other side of the border in Syria, where former President Bashar Assad was shot down in a rebel offensive of lightning in December, Newroz celebrations took place openly in the streets of the capital for the first time in more than a decade since the anti -government protests became a civil war in 2011.
Hundreds of Kurds got into Shamdeen Square in the Roken Al-Din neighborhood, the main Kurdish area in the Syrian capital, to light Newroz’s fire, stirring Kurdish flags along with the new three-star Syrian flag.
In the town of Hemo, on the outskirts of the city of Qamishli, in the northeast of Syria, the Kurdish flag, along with flags of Abdullah Ocalan and the SDF, waved above the crowds while people danced in the streets.
The new rulers in Damascus, former Islamist insurgents, have promised to respect minorities. A temporary constitution announced earlier this month establishes that “citizens are the same before the law … without discrimination based on race, religion, gender or lineage.” But many Kurds were not happy because the text does not explicitly recognize the Kurdish rights.
Mizgeen Tahir, a well -known Kurdish singer who attended the festivities in Hemo, said: “This year, Newroz is different because it is the first Newroz since the fall of the regime and the Baath authority”, referring to the Baath party of the Baath dynasty of the Assad dynasty.
But the Kurdish region of Syria “is at a turning point now,” he said. “This Newroz, we are not sure of our situation. How will our constitutionally be recognized?”
Media Ghanim, from Qamishli, who also joined the celebrations, said he hopes that after the fall of Assad, “we will continue to advance towards freedom and we will have our guaranteed rights in the Syrian Constitution.”
“We hope these negotiations will end successfully, because we want our rights as Kurds,” he said.
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Abdo reported from Hemo, Syria. Associated Press Omar Sanadiki journalist in Damascus contributed to this report.
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