Feryad Fazil Omar, a literary scholar and linguist, Kurdish writer, and former Kurdish lecturer at Freie Universität Berlin, was recognized with the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on December 21, 2022. Ulrike Gote, Senator for Higher Education and Research in the State of Berlin, presented him with the medal in an event on the campus of Freie Universität that was initiated and supported by the Ernst Reuter Society. 

Feryad Fazil Omar knows from his own experience how members of the Kurdish people often suffer from arbitrary reprisals. When he was a child in the city of Sulaymaniyah in what is now the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, he was not allowed to speak Kurdish at school. As a teenager he lost the sight in one eye as the result of police torture.

In 1978 at the age of 28, the Kurdish linguist and writer came to Freie Universität Berlin with a grant to carry out research, and he ended up staying. For many years he taught Kurdish languages, history, and literature at Freie Universität. He created dictionaries and reference works that became standard works for teaching Kurdish. Additionally, he has translated several works of Kurdish literature into German and has written his own poetry and prose in both German and Kurdish. As the founder and director of the Institute for Kurdish Studies in Berlin and former chair of the German federal board for the human rights organization, “Society for Threatened Peoples,” he campaigns for human rights. In February 2022 Feryad Fazil Omar was awarded an honorary doctorate from Salahaddin University-Erbil. In May 2022 he became an honorary member of the Kurdish Academy of Sciences.

The Senator for Higher Education and Research in the State of Berlin, Ulrike Gote, honored Feryad Fazil Omar with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on December 21, 2022, in a lecture hall at Freie Universität. In doing so, she said, “You have had a significant impact on human rights work in Germany.” She went on to point out that in addition to being a scholar, Omar is a “poetic voice of the Kurdish people” through the translation of Kurdish texts into German and English and his own literary work. An “enthusiastic teacher and pioneering researcher,” he created dictionaries and reference works that are once-in-a-century projects.

Omar was nominated for the award by Jan Diedrichsen, Omar’s successor as chair at the Society for Threatened Peoples. Peter Lange, chair of the Ernst Reuter Society and former director of administration and finance at Freie Universität, supported the nomination, as did the professor of Iranian studies, Dr. Maria Macuch, and the executive vice president of Freie Universität, Prof. Dr. Verena Blechinger-Talcott. “You made the Kurdish nation visible in Germany,” said Blechinger-Talcott. She also emphasized his commitment to human rights, saying “It fits in with Freie Universität, it’s in our DNA. We are proud that you are a member of this university.”

Ali Ertan Toprak, the federal chair of the Kurdish community in Germany, pointed out that in many countries, Kurds are exposed to “brutal assimilation policies on the parts of governments.” He said that Feryad Fazil Omar is an important voice, not only for the approximately 1.5 million Kurds who have found a home in Germany. Persian, Ottoman, and Mesopotamian rulers have repeatedly tried to assimilate the Kurdish minorities and to ban their languages. In many countries of the world, Omar is actively involved in the “battle against the eradication of the Kurdish language and cultural identity.”

Maria Macuch, a professor of Iranian studies and a board member of the Institute for Kurdish Studies in Berlin, emphasized Omar’s “indomitable spirit.” His dictionaries with hundreds of thousands of entries including both standard and colloquial language have made it possible for people in Germany to study the Kurdish culture and literature. In particular, the translation of the national epic of the Kurdish people “Mem u Zîn” (Girl and Boy) from the 17th century into German and English made a major contribution toward Kurdish culture entering the canon of world literature.

The final speech was given by Omar himself, who stressed that his mission is not just a commitment to the rights of the Kurds, but also to those of all minorities who do not have their own voice. The 72-year-old said, “I represent those who cannot represent themselves.” The former lecturer at the Institute of Iranian Studies looked back at the beginning of his decades of work there with a wry smile. In 1982 he was asked to teach Kurdish two hours a week, “unsalaried.” Omar recalled that he did not know the word “unsalaried.” When the offer was further accompanied by the words, “the means are scarce,” he understood what was wanted of him – and was happy to comply with the request. Since there were no basic teaching materials available, he quickly created them himself. That may have been the beginning of his life’s work as a cultural mediator and linguist, who has now received a great honor by being awarded a Federal Cross of Merit from Germany.

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This article originally appeared in German in campus.leben, the online magazine of Freie Universität Berlin.