UPDATE - People across Turkey mark Newroz celebrations

UPDATES WITH ERDOGAN'S STATEMENT

By Yildiz Aktas, Burcu Calik, Huseyin Demirci and Ertugrul Subasi

ANKARA (AA) - Thousands of people across Turkey celebrated the spring festival of Newroz on Tuesday, many honoring the event with their own local traditions.

Celebrations saw people leaping over open flames, blacksmiths beating metal and revellers offering traditional food to one other.

Nearly 200 spiritual leaders from the Alevi community came from across the world to attend an official Newroz ceremony in the Turkish capital Ankara, where Prime Minister Binali Yildirim delivered a speech.

Yildirim stressed the importance of unity and world peace.

“Our priority has been always peace,” he said, adding: “We are struggling for the peace of our country, our region and all humanity without distinction.”

Underlining the importance of brotherhood between Alevis and Sunni Muslims, Yildirim said: “We all share the same values and all the sects share the same values.”

He spoke on a platform where a symbolic Newroz fire was lit.

In a written statement, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu described Newroz as a “forerunner of peace and brotherhood”.

Newroz should not be “an ordinary celebration” but should encourage togetherness across the world, he added.

Later Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrated Newroz via Twitter in seven different languages, including Azerbaijani, Persian and Kurdish.

“I would like to wish everyone a happy Nawruz Day and hope that it brings peace, stability and welfare to all the world,” he tweeted in English.

- Nationwide celebrations

Festivities in Istanbul centered on the Topkapi Culture Park and were attended by Provincial Governor Vasip Sahin and Mayor Kadir Topbas.

As part of the festival, which signifies the joy of spring, a fire was lit, iron and stone were beaten and traditional dances were performed.

In Turkey’s eastern Erzurum province, Afghan, Pakistani and Iranian celebrants prepared a Haft-Seen table, consisting of seven traditional foods which aim to secure a fruitful year.

Turkey’s Kurdish population in particular sees the festival as an important traditional and cultural event.

In eastern provinces close to the Iranian and Armenian borders, the festival is celebrated in a more traditional way.

In Kars province, eastern Turkey, a group of snowboarders jumped over a fire at Cibiltepe Ski Center to mark Newroz.

“Along with our teaching friends, we’ve celebrated Newroz by jumping over fire while snowboarding. It was exciting,” Alper Lacin, a skiing instructor, told Anadolu Agency.

Newroz events were organized in various cities across Turkey including Izmir, Diyarbakir and Trabzon.

Last year, many Newroz celebrations were restricted due to security concerns amid counter-terrorism operations in the southeast.

The March 21 festival is celebrated mainly in Iran, Afghanistan, India, Turkic republics such as Azerbaijan, across the Caucasus and in Albania and Macedonia.

Newroz is also a UN-recognized international cultural day.