Hundreds of thousands mark Nevruz in Turkey's southeast

Hundreds of thousands of people have marked Nevruz in the Bağlar district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır along with other cities around Turkey and the region.

Long lines of cars were formed on the roads leading to the Nevruz area, prompting people to leave their cars and walk to the area. 

At least 200,000 people gathered in the area and tight security measures were taken, while control points were set up in five different places. Around 5,000 police officers were on duty in the province. Police and bomb disposal teams searched the area before allowing people to enter. In addition, mine searches were carried out around the Nevruz Park. 

The authorities only allowed posters saying "no" that were prepared as part of the campaign for the April 16 referendum that will decide whether the urrent parliamentary system should be shifted to an executive presidency.

During the celebrations, organizers asked participants to avoid chanting any slogans that were not determined by the organizing committee.

People danced to Kurdish music after the beginning of the celebrations, which were organized by the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and the Democratic Society Congress (DTK). 

More than 400 local and foreign journalists are following the celebrations in Diyarbakır. 

A HDP lawmaker from the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, Osman Baydemir, and the ousted co-mayor of the southeastern province of Mardin, Ahmet Türk, made speeches during the event. 

"No one should doubt that we will win despite all the policies of oppression," Türk said. 

During the celebrations, messages from HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ and DBP co...