Bashir al-Azma (1910–1992) ( ar, بشير العظَمة), was a

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n doctor and politician. He served as

Prime Minister of Syria The prime minister of Syria (Arabic: رئيس وزراء سوريا), formally titled the president of the Council of Ministers ( ar, رئيس مجلس الوزراء), is the head of government of the Syrian Arab Republic. Nomination The prime ...

from 16 April to 14 September 1962. He was born in and raised in the capital

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Medicine from Damascus University and his graduate in Paris. He became the Minister of Health under the United Arab Republic (UAR) but resigned due to a conflict with

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

. Later, he became the Prime Minister of Syria after the dissolution of the UAR. Bashir al-Azma was one of several Syrian Prime Ministers who intended to keep Syria out of the East-West conflict and demonstrate its passive approach to it. On 22 April 1962, al-Azma declared on Radio Damascus that Syria's foreign policy continued to be based on "the principles of positive

neutrality Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction ...

and non-alignment with military blocs, non-participation in the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, and respect for the principles of the UN Charter."Shalom, Zakai. ''Israel's Nuclear Option.'' Sussex, Sussex Academic Press. 2005.

Personal life

Bashir al-Azma was from the distinguished al-Azma family, who were of

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

origin.

Notes and references

1910 births 1992 deaths Prime Ministers of Syria People from Damascus Syrian people of Turkish descent Syrian ministers of health Damascus University alumni Deputy Prime Ministers of Syria {{Syria-politician-stub 20th-century Syrian politicians Al-Azma family Dr A.T. Shousha Foundation Prize and Fellowship laureates