Lutfi al-Haffar ( ar, لطفي الحفار) (18 February 1885 – 4 February 1968) was a
Syrian businessman and politician. He was a founding member of the
National Bloc and served as 11th
Prime Minister of Syria in 1939.
Early career
Al-Haffar was born into the wealthy merchant
Damascene Damascene may refer to:
* Topics directly associated with the city of Damascus in Syria:
** A native or inhabitant of Damascus
** Damascus Arabic, the local dialect of Damascus
** Damascus steel, developed for swordmaking
** "Damascene moment", the ...
family of al-Haffar. His early career was mostly devoted to his family's business in trade. He joined the
Damascus Chamber of Commerce in 1922, and became its deputy president in 1924. In 1923 in response to the water shortages in Damascus, al-Haffar established the
Ayn al-Fijeh Waterworks Company, which pumped water from the
Ayn al-Fijeh spring in the
Ghouta area to the city of Damascus and constructed the first modern public water system in the city. The project was an immediate success, and allowed the water from the
Barada
, name_etymology = From ''barid'', meaning 'cold' in Semitic languages
, image = Barada river in Damascus (April 2009).jpg
, image_size = 300
, image_caption = Barada river in Damascus near the Four Seasons Hote ...
river to be used for other purposes like irrigation.
Political career
French mandate
Al-Haffar's involvement in politics came through his alliance with nationalist leader
Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar
Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar ( ar, عبد الرحمن الشهبندر; ALA-LC: ''‘Abd al-Raḥman al-Shahbandar''; November 1879 – July 1940) was a prominent Syrian nationalist during the French Mandate of Syria and a leading opponent of comp ...
. Shahbandar and Haffar founded the People's Party, which was the first political party in Syria under the
French Mandate
The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (french: Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban; ar, الانتداب الفرنسي على سوريا ولبنان, al-intidāb al-fransi 'ala suriya wa-lubnān) (1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate fou ...
. The party advocated the unity of
Greater Syria, and the abolition of the French Mandate.
The party was banned shortly thereafter by French authorities because of suspected links to the
1925 uprising in
Jabal al-Druze.
After the French bombardment of Damascus following the revolt, al-Haffar spearheaded a call to end armed resistance to the French in favor of political struggle.
Al-Haffar joined
Ahmad Nami
"Al-Damad" Ahmad Nami or "Damat" Ahmet Nami ( ar, أحمد نامي, Aḥmad Nāmī; 1873 – 13 December 1962) was an Ottoman prince (damat), the fifth prime minister of Syria and second president of Syria (1926–28), and a lecturer of history ...
's cabinet as minister of public works and economy in April 1926, but resigned two months later in protest of French interference. He was arrested by the mandate authorities and detained until 1928.
National Bloc
In 1928, al-Haffar, along with a number of nationalist leaders, founded the
National Bloc in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
. The Bloc, under the leadership of
Hashim al-Atassi
Hashim al-Atassi ( ar, هاشم الأتاسي, Hāšim al-ʾAtāsī; 11 January 1875 – 5 December 1960) was a Syrian nationalist and statesman and the President of Syria from 1936 to 1939, 1949 to 1951 and 1954 to 1955.
Background and e ...
, became the central umbrella group for political resistance against the French occupation. Al-Haffar was elected to the national constitutional assembly in 1928, which was tasked with drafting Syria's first republican constitution.
Al-Haffar was an active participant and organizer in the
1936 Syrian general strike
The 1936 Syrian general strike ( ar, الإضراب الستيني) was a 50-day strike that was organized as a response to the policies of the French occupation of Syria and Lebanon. The strike action paralyzed the country for two months and fo ...
. The strike lasted sixty-days, and al-Haffar was arrested during a demonstration against the French-appointed prime minister,
Taj al-Din al-Hasani. To end the protests, France invited the Bloc to Paris for negotiations which eventually resulted in the
Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence
The Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence, also known as the Viénot Accords, was a treaty negotiated between France and Syria to provide for Syrian independence from French authority.
History
In 1934, France attempted to impose a treaty of inde ...
. In July, parliamentary elections were held and the National Bloc was elected with an overwhelming majority. Al-Atassi was elected president, and
Jamil Mardam Bey
Jamil Mardam Bey ( ota, جميل مردم بك; tr, Cemil Mardam Bey; 1895–1960), was a Syrian politician. He was born in Damascus to a prominent aristocratic family. He is a descendant of the Ottoman general, statesman and Grand Vizier Lala ...
prime minister. Al-Haffar served as
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
in Mardam Bey's cabinet until July 1938.
On 24 February 1939, al-Haffar was appointed prime minister by President al-Atassi. The cabinet, in which he also headed the education portfolio, lasted less than two months and was faced with a growing opposition under the leadership of al-Haffar's former ally, al-Shahbandar.
In 1940, al-Shahbandar was assassinated and al-Haffar, along with three other leaders in the National Bloc, was tried before a French military tribunal. Al-Haffar escaped to
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
, and remained there until he was acquitted by the courts. During the presidency of
Shukri al-Quwatli
Shukri al-Quwatli ( ar, شكري القوّتلي, Shukrī al-Quwwatlī; 6 May 189130 June 1967) was the first president of post-independence Syria. He began his career as a dissident working towards the independence and unity of the Ottoman E ...
between 1943 and 1946, al-Haffar served as minister of interior in three different cabinets under Prime Ministers
Saadallah al-Jabiri and
Faris al-Khoury.
Independence
In 1947, the National Bloc split into two competing parties, the
National Party and the
People's Party. Al-Haffar joined the National Party and became its secretary-general. He served as deputy to Prime Minister Mardam Bey until the
military coup
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
of Chief of Staff
Husni al-Za'im
Husni al-Za'im ( ar, حسني الزعيم ''Ḥusnī az-Za’īm''; 11 May 1897 – 14 August 1949) was a Syrian military officer and politician of Kurdish origin. Husni al-Za'im, had been an officer in the Ottoman Army. After France institute ...
overthrew the Quwatli administration. Al-Haffar was arrested along with most of Quwatli's allies. He was released after direct interference by former Lebanese Prime Minister
Abdul Hamid Karami
Abdul Hamid Karami (23 October 1890 – 23 November 1950) ( ar, عبد الحميد كرامي) was a Lebanese political and religious leader, who had nationalistic Arab inclinations.
Biography
Karami descended from one of the most prominen ...
.
Later years
Lutfi al-Haffar's role in Syrian politics diminished in later years, and he held no official posts in the 1950s. He opposed the 1958
union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
between Egypt and Syria and signed the secession declaration supporting the military coup which ended the union in 1961. He retired from politics after the
March 1963 Baath-led coup d'état.
His daughter,
Salma Kuzbari, became a Syrian writer and activist who catalogued her father's life and work in the 1995 book ''Lutfi al-Haffar: 1885-1968''.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haffar, Lutfi
1880s births
1968 deaths
Prime Ministers of Syria
Deputy Prime Ministers of Syria
Syrian ministers of interior
Syrian ministers of education
Syrian ministers of economy
Syrian ministers of finance
Syrian businesspeople
Politicians from Damascus
Members of the People's Assembly of Syria
20th-century businesspeople
Syrian Freemasons