Turkish ID more impotant than Nobel, Karman says

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Tawakkul Karman receives Turkish ID card from Turkish FM Davutoğlu in Ankara. AA photo

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu delivered Yemeni 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkul Karman her new identity card yesterday following the activist’s earlier acquisition of Turkish citizenship.

“For me, Turkish citizenship is more important than the Nobel,” Karman told Davutoğlu, according to sources. Davutoğlu said Karman’s struggle for democracy amid the Arab Spring was notable. Noting that Karman’s origin was from the Central Anatolian province of Karaman, Davutoğlu said they were proud that a “family member” was striving for freedom and democracy in the Middle East. Karman, 33, a leading figure in the Yemeni uprising in 2011, was the first Arab woman to have won the Nobel Prize.