Thousands of people flocked to Newroz Park in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir to welcome the Day of Newroz, a spring festival which falls on March 21 each year and is celebrated mainly by the country's Kurdish population.
The park, located in Baglar district, has become the focal point of celebrations in the province. More than 700 journalists at home and abroad were accredited to cover the celebrations.
The celebration this year is of great importance as a letter from Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed head of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, is due to be read out. Ocalan is expected to call for peace and put forward a roadmap for the solution process.
The solution process officially began in 2013 in an effort to bring an end to the decades-old conflict with the PKK, which is listed by Turkey, U.S. and the European Union as a terrorist organization.
On Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a written statement regarding the Newroz celebration and said it was a joint festival celebrated in a wide region across the world.
"It is the name of unity, solidarity and brotherhood," Erdogan said, wishing for the Newroz to strengthen the climate of fraternity and peace in Turkey.
Attendees wearing local dresses came in the early hours of the morning, an AA correspondent reported.
The jubilant attendees went through security measures, including body searches, before entering the celebration area.
"Happy Newroz" banners in the Kurdish and Zaza languages were hung on the platform and people danced while chanting Kurdish songs.
The co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, or HDP, Figen Yuksekdag and co-chairs Hatip Dicle and Selma Irmak of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Congress movement arrived at the celebration area with several HDP lawmakers.
