The very first fire of Newroz 2012 has been lit on March 10 in Van, Bostancici this year. Hundreds of people dressed in their traditional Kurdish clothes gathered with posters of the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in order to start this years` Newroz celebrations and expressed their strong will of freedom by saying "this year we will say either freedom or freedom on Newroz!". {divide}
At the same day, the first Newroz fire of Diyarbakir has also been lit in the district Yenisehir, neighbourhood Syrantepe. Slogans like "long live leader Apo", "either freedom or freedom" and "PKK is the people and the people are here" were shouted frequently during the celebration which ended with a fireworks show.
In Adana, the youth started to celebrate Newroz, too with an action at the street. After lighting fires of Newroz on the street and shouting slogans in favour of Abdullah Ocalan and the PKK, the police attacked with pressurized water and gas bombs. The Kurdish youth responded to this attack with stones.
This year, Newroz will be celebrated in 127 different places under the main slogan "Enough is enough, either freedom or freedom". Due to the special situation including military operations, mass detentions, the Van earthquake, the Roboski massacre, rape, sexual abuse and torture against young Kurdish prisoners in the prison of Pozanti and the isolation of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, it is expected that the celebration of Newroz will be a strong message of resistance this year. The two main events, organised by DTK and BDP , will take place on March 18 in Istanbul and Diyarbarkir. Moreover, BDP Diyarbakır co-chair Zubeyde Zumrut said in a press conference, that the Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakir will last ten days this year.