Touria Chaoui’s story is one of an unfulfilled joy. The story of a tragedy endured by her family and the entire Morocco, of which this woman was proud at a time when she was suffering under the yoke of colonialism.
Touria Chaoui is the first Moroccan and Arab pilot. Graduated in aviation at the age of 15, she has created a media event, not only at the national and Arab level, but throughout the world.
Born in 1936 in Fez, Touria Chaoui was a symbol of women’s emancipation and independence. She was a woman with a strong personality and who loved to fly since her early childhood. Thanks to her father’s encouragement, she made her dream come true. After intense efforts, she succeeded in gaining access to the Tit Mlil base in Casablanca, the only one that provided aviation courses, reserved only for the French elite living in Morocco at the time.
Obtaining her diploma in aviation allowed her to meet the late HM King Mohammed V who received her in his palace and congratulated her, before her relationship with his two daughters, Lala Aicha and Lalla Malika, was consolidated and they became friends.
Touria Chaoui was born into a bourgeois family in Fez, having settled in Casablanca in 1948. Her father, Abdelouahed Chaoui, was one of the first journalists to write in French. He is the one who transmitted to her the passion for theater and cinema, as well as the love of her country. He was also known for his involvement in the national movement and in resistance against the colonizer, through his activity within the Istiqlal party.
At the age of 19, Touria Chaoui was murdered in her car outside her door. A crime which have never been clarified, some have seen it as a settling of scores between nationalists, while others have favored the possibility of a crime of passion.
The attacker who shot her is Ahmed Touil. He was assassinated in his turn, as the newspaper Azzaman reported, on March1, 1956, just before Morocco’s independence. Touria Chaoui did not experience this joy. She left behind her a great sorrow in the hearts of all Moroccans, who accompanied her to her final resting place by the thousands.
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