The Victory Sign At Nevruz

Columnist Mehmet Yilmaz writes on Nevruz celebrations and how and why it is celebrated by different societies. A summary of his column is as follows:
In Persian, ‘Nevruz’ means the ‘new day.’ It is the first day of the first month on the Iranian calendar. In other words, it is the first day of the New Year ... This day when the sun enters the sign of Aries has been accepted as the day God created the universe and also humans. It is a well-known fact that before adopting Islam, Turks in Central Asia celebrated the advent of spring and that this day has taken on a religious meaning following the acceptance of Islam under Arab influence. This day is still being celebrated in many Central Asian cities as an official holiday and festival. For the Alawites and Bektashi, Nevruz is the birthday of Caliph Ali and the day he married Fatma, the Prophet Mohammad’s daughter ... As for the Sunni (orthodox) Turkish traditions, it is the day when the spicy ‘mesir paste’ is distributed ... It is also celebrated in Egypt and Iraq as a tradition. For the Kurds it is the day, as legend has it, when blacksmith Kawa defeated the cruel tyrant Dehhak ... In other words there are various stories about the day. It is a day celebrating nature, nurtured by legends and taking on religious elements over time. It is one of the common aspects uniting the Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Iranians, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Uzbeks and Turcomans. Two scenes attracted my attention when looking at the photos of yesterday’s Nevruz celebrations. One was taken in Kabul, where Nevruz has begun to be celebrated after being banned for seven years under the Taleban regime ... Reuters reported the news as, ‘Iranian new year Nevruz celebrated in Kabul and Mazar-i Sharif.’ The second picture was taken in our Southeastern city of Van. Some foreigners posed under a banner with the colors yellow, green, and red (the signature colors of the terrorist PKK). It is evident that they knew nothing about Nevruz, its historic or religious meaning. If they had known how special a day it was, they would realize the meaningless of their action. They would have understood that the day was not directed at dividing Turks and Kurds but in fact at uniting these people with historic ties. I cannot blame them, as those who should be embarrassed by these pictures are the ones who declare this festival as only a ‘Kurdish freedom day’ ... It is the result of racist fanaticism and ignorance, a responsibility lying with many parties beginning with Kurdish chieftains and going on with some Turkish bureaucrats. In many encyclopedias entries for ‘Nevruz’ and neurosis stand cheek by jowl. This proximity in dictionaries between the psychiatric disorder neurosis, which leads to physical and social failures in a continual state of restlessness, and ‘Nevruz’ as celebrated in various cities explains our state of mind as a society ... Is that what the foreigners who don’t even know the meaning of Nevruz intend to do when making victory signs? Do they really want to contribute to pitting the Turkish and Kurdish peoples against each other? Are they celebrating this?

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION