Despite the climate of fascism and the severe repression, Amed Newroz is passionately committed at the moment. This year's celebrations take place under state repression. Massive control points were built up where long lines formed. The crowd keeps growing every minute. At the opening of the Newroz Festival, hundreds of thousands expressed their attachment to the Kurdish struggle for freedom by jointly proclaiming "Bijî Serok Apo - Long live Leader Abdullah Öcalan".

Message from Afrin

The co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Berdan Öztürk presented a Newroz message from Afrin, which included: "While here in Afrin, we have peacefully been equal and Kurds, Arabs and Turks have been living together for years, the festival will be under occupation in 2018."

The message pointed to the courageous resistance to the second largest NATO army and the attacks and massacre of the civilian population by the Turkish state and its militias. Furthermore, the special role of Amed as a Kurdish capital was highlighted. "Amed is the capital and must play this role as well. It has to take over its leadership role as soon as possible. It is time for everyone to show that the people are not alone in this old soil. Long live Newroz - Long live our fight for freedom!"

Message from political prisoners

After the message from Afrin, the Newroz fire was lit. Afterwards the message of greeting of the imprisoned politicians was read out. They said: "In Turkey, Kurdistan, Syria, everywhere we see brutal oppressors trying to stifle us in war, death, exile and cruelty. Today's Dehaks try to rewrite history. But both the oppressed and the oppressors are no longer those of the past. Above all, the Kurdish people, as well as the peoples of the region, who thirst for freedom and humanity, now determine their own fate, write their own history."

Representatives of various political organizations and parties in Kurdistan called for a policy of "national unity". Amongst others, speeches were held by the Revolutionary Democratic Kurdish Associations (DDKD), the HAK-Par and the Freedom and Socialism Party (ÖSP) that all called for unity in response to all-out attacks.