Between Malala Yousafzai & Medya Ormek

 LETTER TO THE EDITOR / BY KAMAL CHOMANI

Hello Dear Hans,

Between Malala Yousafzai & Medya Ormek

Malala fought for the rights of girls to go to school and she was shot in the head, later nominated for Noble Peace Prize. Of course she deserves even more, but why the international community and media didn’t pay attention to Medya Ormek who had just turned to eleven when Turkish Police started investigation against her and her family, threatening her with putting her in jail for years, all for opening a class for children to teach them Kurdish.

Medya Ormek for sure has done more than Malala as she has been struggling for a nation not only a group in society.

Medya Ormek, now 13, is a Kurdish girl in Amed (Northern Kurdistan) who opened Cigerxwen Class in her home to teach Kurdish to the children of her neighborhood. 

It is not something strange if Taliban goes against the rights of education for girls, and someone who speaks out against them, he/she maybe easily targeted. But it is a great thing and achievement for a young girl like Medya Ormek who stood against Turkish state and its fascist and racist institutions. Her struggle was a milestone in struggle for education in mother tongue.

If Medya Ormek’s struggle was not against Turkey, the USA’s best ally in Middle East, for instance if it was against Taliban, or if she was not a Kurds, then Mr Obama would invite her to Oval Office or she might have already been nominated for Noble Peace Prize.