DIYARBAKIR / Newroz Piroz Be!

Doors in the old city were all very small and colorful, decorated with various designs

Local grey stone used from buildings to tombstones provide a simple but serene aura to places.

Hand-operated whirling swings that were commonplace in Istanbul as well in my childhood.

An old Armenian church turned into a carpet weaving workshop.

Streets decorated with colorful flags for newroz celebrations.

Newroz dresses for sale.

Diyarbakır Ulu Cami (Mosque) is one of the most beautiful in the country. Kids examining the intricate decorations in the courtyard.

The interior is quite modest compared to the courtyard.

Our breakfast with my host Uğur Özdemir: lentil soup with meat stock, lamb tandoori and rice.

Newroz celebration area

Stage built for celebrations with "Free leadership, Free Kurdistan" written on top. The main focus of the speeches was freedom to Ocalan.

The climax of celebrations was lighting up of the newroz fire. 

Watermelon seeds are consumed much like pumpkin or sunflower seeds. 

Little peshmerga

One of the most memorable moments of the trip was listening to dengbej, who sing poems without any enstruments.

When the travel bug in me started itching again I decided to save myself from the embrassment of not seeing one of the most important cities in the country, Diyarbakır, and took a short trip there.  After purchasing the plane ticket I was pleasantly surprised that my visit was going to coincide with the Newroz celebrations. Nowhere else in Turkey you can feel the excitement building up as newroz day approaches as you do in Diyarbakır, which has turned into a day to celebrate the political and ethnical identity for the Kurds of Turkey rather than a new year celebration. To make the most of my limited time in the city and to get into the local culture and life as quickly as possible I decided to stay with a local through couchsurfing site. I found myself in the very heart of all the action as Uğur Özdemir, who accepted my request, turned out to be quite a Kurdish activist himself. 

Inner city (or the old city) is the nicest part of Diyarbakır with its historic feel. Its narrow streets are adorned with colorful markets, historic mosques and churches. Of course not to forget all the grilled liver stalls you will find wherever you look. To follow suit I had grilled liver for breakfast most of the mornings. The use of word “zerzevat”  to define vegetables or salad, which also  means “small, unimportant things” in Turkish, will give you the idea of how little they think of vegetables in the city. As an eastern traditional city in Turkey, Diyarbakır was more modern than I had expected. I was happy to see young woman comfortably and freely walking around in the city late at night. Another surprising thing was seeing how dominant Turkish was in the daily life of this mainly Kurdish populated city. The city was buzzing with everyone coming from both different parts of the county and abroad for newroz celebrations. Unfortunately discussions we had with Uğur, his roommate Feridun and their friends visiting while enjoying some homemade Syriac wine and burma kadayıf dessert of Diyarbakır were not all that optimistic about the future of the region and Turkey from my perspective. Diyarbakır was a completely different world with its own agenda, air, and dreams than the western part of the country only a few hours away. I returned to Istanbul both with the sorrow of seeing us move apart from each other at a fast pace, and with the happiness of recieving great hospitality and making new friends…