Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed on Saturday his wish for the spring festival of Newroz to help strengthen the climate of brotherhood and peace in Turkey.
"It is the name of unity, solidarity and brotherhood, all of which are symbolized by the awakening of the spring," Erdogan said in a written statement.
Newroz is the March 21 festival that marks the beginning of spring and is celebrated mainly in Iran, Afghanistan, India, Turkic republics such as Azerbaijan, Caucasus countries, Albania and Macedonia. Turkey's Kurdish population in particular see it as an important traditional and cultural event.
Erdogan described Newroz as a joint festival observed for thousands of years.
"The Newroz Festival, which has remained lively in our culture in the area stretching out from the Central Asia to the Balkans, represents the will of our nation to overcome all differences, claim its past and collaboratively build its future," said the Newroz message issued by the Press Office of the Turkish Presidency.
The president said he hoped the festival, which was recognized as an international day in 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly, will bring peace and love to all humanity.
"I believe our hopes, refreshed by the spring, will bear the expected fruit with the Newroz Festival and lead to the onset of a brand new era for us all," he added.
Erdogan also issued a Newroz message on his official Twitter account in five languages -- Turkish, Kurdish, English, Arabic and Persian, saying "I hope and pray that the coming of Spring will also revive the hope in our hearts for brotherhood and peace. Happy Nowruz Day!"
This year's celebration in Turkey is of the utmost importance as a letter from Abdullah Ocalan -- the jailed leader of the outlawed PKK which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- is due to be read out in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir. Ocalan is expected to call for peace and put forward a roadmap for the solution process.
The solution process is a government initiative that officially started in early 2013 to end the decades-old conflict with the PKK.
Hopes are running high in anticipation of Ocalan's Newroz message. On Feb. 28, Ocalan took a historic step forward for the solution process when he called for PKK members to hold a conference to discuss the disarmament of the terrorist group.
During the 2013 Newroz celebrations, Ocalan also made a call to withdraw all armed elements of the PKK from Turkish soil as of May and June 2013 and put an end to the armed conflict, which has claimed around 40,000 lives in Turkey in the last three decades.
