Newroz celebrations organized by Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and People's Democratic Congress (DTK) have been joined by hundreds of thousands in North Kurdistan and Turkey.

Celebrations for this year's Newroz have taken place at 50 central locations on 17 March, 30 other places on the 18th and over 30 places today, including Nusaybin, Şırnak, Cizre, Batman, Urfa, Şemdinli and Ağrı. "Freedom for Öcalan, status for Kurds" is the main slogan of this year's celebrations which will end with the mass meeting in Diyarbakır on 21 March. The road map for peace, recently prepared by Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), will be announced on the Newroz Day in Amed.

Thousands have gathered for celebrations in Mardin's Nusaybin district as of early hours on Tuesday morning. Police has taken intense security measures in the Newroz area in which people are allowed after being subjected to body search at three separate points.

The celebrations in Şırnak have also begun with the participation of thousands of people dressed in traditional clothes and carrying huge flags of PKK and KCK (Kurdish Communities Union). Police teams have surrounded the meeting area which is covered with yellow, red and green flags.

Tens of thousands have also gathered in Batman where the celebrations will start with the speeches by BDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş and deputy Ayla Akat. Huge banners reading "Freedom for Öcalan, status for Kurds" and photographs of Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez, three Kurdish poiticians killed in Paris on 9 January, have been seized by police on the grounds of being illegal.

Police has also seized banners in Urfa where tens of thousands have gathered in the Newroz area for celebrations. BDP co-chair Gültan Kışanak, Urfa deputy İbrahim Binici, Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan's brother Mehmet and sister Fatma Öcalan as well as KCK Executive Council President Murat Karayılan's siblings are also joining the celebrations here.

Shops have been closed in Hakkari's Şemdinli district where people are joining the celebrations in mass. A large number of people from surrounding districts and towns have also reached the Newroz area to join the celebrations which began, like in all other places, with one minute's silence for all those who lost their life in the struggle for freedom and democracy.

Celebrations of the last three days have been joined by hundreds of thousands of people in a number of places including Istanbul, Mersin, Adana, Muş, Hakkari, Iğdır, Kars, Erzurum, Bitlis, Kızıltepe, Edremit, İzmit, Muğla and Mardin.