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Nowruz not what it used to be for Afrin’s Kurds

Kurds in Syria have been celebrating Nowruz in secrecy for the past years, under the Assad regime and now under the control of the Turkish-backed rebels.
People wave the Kurdish flag during a Syrian Kurdish celebration marking Nowruz in the town of Qahtaniyah, Hasakah province, Syria, March 21, 2022.

On March 21 of each year, millions of Kurds, Persians, Pashtuns, Azeris and other ethnicities celebrate Nowruz, which means “new day” in Persian and Kurdish and is equivalent to New Year’s Day for these communities.

Nowruz is considered the only holiday celebrated by different ethnicities and religious groups across the globe. It is an official holiday in many countries, including Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, the South Caucasus, the Crimean Peninsula, the Balkans, Kashmir, the Indian state of Gujarat and northwest China.

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