Afrinpost – Special
For the third year on a raw, sadness enveloped the indigenous people of Afrin on Nowruz day, as they are deprived of celebrating it because of the sadness over a family’s distraction between those who remained on their land and those who are suffering from the harsh conditions of displacement in the camps and exile, while the Corona virus came to increased their grief.
The people of the Afrin have suffered for two years from the Turkish occupation, deteriorating security conditions as a result of the frequent explosions, clashes, and suspicious bombings that affect the occupied region, for close periods, resulting in more victims and martyrs, which drives the majority of the people who stayed at their homes in light of the miserable and compelling living conditions, with this circumstances there was no possibility to celebrate social and national events , knowing that there are attempts by some families to adapt these events to the current circumstances.
Commenting on the Nowruz this year, the 50 years old man “Abu Dalu / a pseudonym” told the Afrinpost: “For two years now, we have stayed at our homes and could get outdoors for fear of bombings and kidnappings.”
Following: “We have been under quarantine for two years, because whoever waits for the opportunity to bear down on us abroad is more dangerous than Corona! (In reference to the militants of the Islamic militia of the Muslim Brotherhood, known as the “Syrian National Army”).
“Abu Dalu” added sadly: “Imagine that I am in the city of Afrin, and I miss the waterfalls of Gamrouk and Maidanki lake, and I cannot visit it either on ordinary days or on occasions.”
According to what was reported by Afrinpost correspondents on the night of Nowruz, the majority of the people shortened the Nowruz flame by lighting a candle at home, and some of the people of the region defied the state of terror spread by the Turkish occupation militias throughout the region, and they lit the Nowruz fire as it happened In the village of Miskeh / Mistkanly, of the Jenderes district, while gunmen of the “Failaq Al-Sham” militia attacked the Kurdish citizen “Mohammed Inja” in the village of Jalameh and kidnapped him to an unknown destination because he has lit the Nowruz torch in his village.
In the village of Brimjah of the district of “Mobata / Mabatali”, the militia of the “Al-Jabha Al-Shamiya” deployed its elements in the village and prevented the people from setting fires on the occasion of Nowruz holiday, according to the instructions of its leader, called “Abu Turab”, who issued a circular to prevent the burning of fire, whatever the reason even if it’s for barbecue.
In an exceptional case, a number of the people of the village of “Bassoute / Basouta” in the district of Sherawa celebrated the holiday, setting fire and danced holding up Kurdish flags in an area close to the village, in a scene repeated for the second year in a row.
During the era of Self-Administration that was officially announced on the nineteenth of January 2014, the people used to celebrate Nowruz in an intense mass public, as the “Self-Administration” usually announced a three-day official holiday, so that all families could participate effectively in the celebrations.
Nowruz is a Kurdish national holiday symbolizing renewal, spring, hope and confronting tyranny. Perhaps the concepts that Nowruz evokes were the most prominent reason that prompted the Turkish occupation and its gunmen to prevent celebration, and it is likely that the militants ’fear of turning the night of the fire or on the morning of Nowruz, which falls on the twenty-first of March, to demonstrations by Kurdish indigenous people, pushed them to pressure in the context of preventing celebration.
Last year, the Islamic militias affiliated with the Turkish occupation threatened the remaining Kurdish population in the Kurdish region of Afrin, with accountability and kidnapping in the event that they celebrate in any way the Day of Nowruz, since the Islamic militias generally consider “Nowruz” as a holiday for the infidels and the Magi (according to their claim).
Nowruz is embodied in the character of the hero “Kawa the Blacksmith”, which symbolizes emancipation from slavery, exploitation and injustice, and indicates the brightening of the sun of freedom, no matter how long the injustice lasted and lasted for the night, and it is also meanings capable of preventing the occupation and its gunmen for the feast, as they realize that they are occupying forces by armed force.
The militants of the Islamic militia intentionally destroyed the monument of the hero Kawa the Blacksmith, on the first day of the military occupation on the city of Afrin on the eighteenth of March 2018, where dozens of bullets were fired at the monument, which is between how much hatred he holds these are in their souls towards the Kurdish people, their beliefs, culture and history.
The Turkish occupation also changed the name of Nowruz roundabout to its own name, while the flame that had been prepared during the era of “Self-Sdministration” in “Nowruz roundabout” was removed, where “Self-Administration” officials and the general public were lighting the torch in the middle of the roundabout. Marking the start of celebrations, on the night of the twentieth of March of each year.
