Iran Calls Off Kurdistan Int’l Nowruz Celebrations over COVID-19

The Nowruz festival was going to be held in the provincial capital Sanandaj as of Friday March 13.

Kurdistan Governor Bahman Moradnia has told IRNA that Iran was designated by UNESCO as the secretariat of the celebration, and it was planned to hold an international celebration of Nowruz from March 13 to 15 with guests from the countries of Nowruz and other ambassadors.

“Preparations for the celebration had been made in the past few months and arrangements had been made for the presence of representatives of Nowruz countries in cooperation with the ministry of cultural heritage, tourism and handicraft as well as the foreign ministry,” he added.

Noting that Sanandaj was registered by the UNESCO as a creative city of music in the world, he stressed that representatives of creative cities of music registered in UNESCO were expected to attend the celebration, but because of the spread of coronavirus in the country the ceremony was cancelled.

Nowruz celebrations is of great account among the people of Kurdistan province. Last year, the festival was held with the participation of national and provincial officials. Around 20 to 22 thousand people from different parts of the country gathered in the Golan Stadium in Sanandaj.

The historical background of the Nowruz celebration and the interest of people led the provincial authorities to decide to hold the international Nowruz celebrations, but the outbreak of the coronavirus cancelled the event.