Push to ban pro-Kurdish HDP erodes Turkey’s political pluralism further The price for Erdogan’s attempts to silence Turkey’s Kurdish population will have to be paid for years to come Timing of HDP charges suggests Turkey is becoming more repressive against the Kurds and even more nationalistic Updated 26 March 2021 March 25, 2021 21:05 MISSOURI, USA: Every March, Kurds, Persians, Azeris, Tajiks, and others celebrate Newroz, the spring equinox festival of the new year. In the Kurdish version of Newroz, legends surrounding the festival focus on a mythical blacksmith of antiquity named Kawa, who saved normal people from a terrible tyrant. The Kurdish version of Newroz therefore comes replete with connotations of freedom from tyranny, oppression, and injustice.