Thousands of people have joined celebrations for the 64th birthday of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in Diyarbakır, Ergani and Mardin late on Tuesday.

The celebrations in the main Kurdish city Diyarbakır were joined by hundreds of people who chanted slogans and danced halay (traditional Kurdish dance) till late hours. People joining the celebrations also remembered Sakine Cansız, a co-founder of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Fidan Doğan, representative of Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) in Paris, and Leyla Şaylemez, member of the Kurdish youth movement, who were killed in the French capital on 9 January 2013. The meeting areas were covered with red, green and yellow banners and flags of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Kurdish Communities Union (KCK). The celebrations were also joined by Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) executives in Diyarbakır.

On the other hand, thousands of people from Kars, Manisa, Şırnak and Hakkari have departed for Amara, the Kurdish leader's village in Urfa's Halfeti district, to join the mass celebration to take place tomorrow. The mass meeting which has been organized by TUHAD-FED is expected to be joined by thousands.