Mar 21, 2017

Their leaders are in jail, their towns are in ruins and their rights are being suppressed, yet tens of thousands of Turkish Kurds gathered today in a mix of defiance and joy to celebrate Nowruz, the arrival of spring, in their unofficial capital Diyarbakir.

Spurning organizers’ pleas not to provoke the authorities’ wrath, many revelers chanted slogans in support of Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who commands the affection of millions of Kurds across the region. “Free Ocalan, martyrs never die,” the crowds roared. And in a pointed message to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, they repeatedly shouted “na,” Kurdish for “no,” for how they will be voting in the April 16 referendum on replacing Turkey’s parliamentary system with a presidential one.

Recent opinion polls suggest that over 60% of ethnic Kurds will vote against Erdogan’s bid for what many see as unchecked one-man rule. Naysayers are running neck and neck with the ayes. But pollsters say that the latter were bumped up by Germany and the Netherlands’ refusal to let Erdogan and his lieutenants campaign on their soil. In a recent survey, 53% of those polled said they would vote in favor, and 47% against. The results do not necessarily reflect voters' choices because many naysayers are afraid to reveal their true colors. Apparently, not the Kurds.

Ahmet Sumbul, the managing editor of the local Mucadele newspaper, told Al-Monitor in a telephone interview, “We were stunned by the turnout. With so many party officials in jail, mobilizing a crowd this size seemed unlikely.”

One man who sought to enter the square where the celebrations were being held was shot and killed by police who said he was wielding a knife. Sumbul observed, however, that security forces monitoring the rally had mostly behaved with restraint.