Paper short abstract:

My paper will focus on the celebration of Newroz by the kurdish people in Turkey. Widely unknown to the public in the 1970s, it has become a cornerstone of the construction of collective identification with the Kurdish group. How?

Paper long abstract:

Every year in Turkey millions of Kurdish people gather to celebrate "Newroz", making this

event a highlight of Kurdish identity claims. When asked about the origins of the festival,

participants recount a Zoroastrian myth: the victory of Kawa the blacksmith over the dragon

demon Dehak.

Organizers and participants all agree that "Newroz is a Kurdish festival, a symbol of freedom

and resistance". Organized by the Kurdish nationalist party and various pro-Kurdish

associations, Newroz has become a cornerstone of the construction of collective identification

with the Kurdish group.

Widely unknown to the public in the 1970s, the political significance of the festival grew with

the Kurdish movement in the 1980s and took on particular momentum in the 1990s, so much

so that the Turkish state now feels threatened by what can be seen as an invented tradition: it

has proclaimed "Nevruz" to be a Turkish festival and has integrated it into Turkish national

historiography.

My paper will focus on the introduction of Newroz into collective memory, looking into the

agents and mechanisms of appropriation of a Zoroastrian celebration and its transformation

into a symbol of identity. I will also be looking at the recent inclusion of Newroz, here

Nourouz, on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.