Nazim al-Qudsi ( ar, ناظم القدسي, Nāẓim al-Qudsī or Nadhim Al-Kudisi; 14 February 1906 – 6 February 1998), was a Syrian politician who served as
President of Syria
The president of Syria, officially the president of the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: رئيس سوريا) is the head of state of the Syrian Arab Republic. They are vested with sweeping powers that may be delegated, at their sole discretion, to ...
from 14 December 1961 to 8 March 1963.
Early life and education
Al-Qudsi was born in
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
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on 14 February 1906. After receiving his high school degree from the
Aleppo American College, Qudsi obtained his law degree from
Damascus University
The University of Damascus ( ar, جَامِعَةُ دِمَشْقَ, ''Jāmi‘atu Dimashq'') is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus and has campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 through ...
. He later received a master's degree from the
American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...
(AUB), and PhD from the
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...
's
Graduate Institute of International Studies
Graduate may refer to:
Education
* The subject of a graduation, i.e. someone awarded an academic degree
** Alumnus, a former student who has either attended or graduated from an institution
* High school graduate, someone who has completed hi ...
.
Early career
After his education, Qudsi returned to Syria in 1935 and joined the
National Bloc, the leading anti-French independence movement, and became one of its prominent members in Aleppo. It was a political organization which sought to emancipate Syria from French control through diplomatic means rather than armed resistance. In 1936, he ran for
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
on a National Bloc ticket and won. He clashed with the Bloc leadership that failed to prevent the
annexation
Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
of
Alexandretta to
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
in 1939. As a result, he resigned from the Bloc ranks. Qudsi created a coalition of Aleppine intellectuals around himself and
Rushdi al-Kikhya
Rushdi al-Kikhya ( ar, رشدي الكيخيا; 1899– 14 March 1987) was a Syrian political leader who founded the People's party in 1948. Kikhya was elected as a Speaker of the Parliament of Syria between 1949 and 1951, and he was elected fiv ...
, another lawyer who shared in his views, and the two men nominated themselves for Parliament in 1943, winning with ease. They lobbied against the election 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 Emp ...
, a National Bloc leader, as president, but Quwatli was voted into office in August 1943. To appease the opposition, the new President appointed Qudsi as Syria's first
Ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...
to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Qudsi founded the Syrian Embassy in
Washington, D.C.
)
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from scratch, and on 19 March 1945 presented his credentials to President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
. In 1947, he and
Rushdi al-Kikhya
Rushdi al-Kikhya ( ar, رشدي الكيخيا; 1899– 14 March 1987) was a Syrian political leader who founded the People's party in 1948. Kikhya was elected as a Speaker of the Parliament of Syria between 1949 and 1951, and he was elected fiv ...
founded the
People's Party in Aleppo. It was inaugurated as an opposition movement to the Quwatli regime and created to counterbalance the political weight of the
National Party, the successor to the National Bloc, loyal to Quwatli. The People's Party founders were mainly notables from Aleppo who aimed at creating union between Syria and
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, maintaining a democratic government, and advocating stronger ties with the West. The
Hashemite
The Hashemites ( ar, الهاشميون, al-Hāshimīyūn), also House of Hashim, are the royal family of Jordan, which they have ruled since 1921, and were the royal family of the kingdoms of Hejaz (1916–1925), Syria (1920), and Iraq (1921 ...
royal family in
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 ...
supported the party and funded many of its activities.
In 1947, Qudsi ran for Parliament on a party ticket and won. His election was repeated in 1949, 1954, and 1962. He voted against the re-election of Quwatli as president, but a parliamentary majority pushed through the election. On
29 March 1949, the Quwatli administration was toppled by a military ''
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
'', launched by 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 instituted ...
. Syria's new ruler asked Qudsi to form a government but he declined, claiming that the Za’im regime was unconstitutional and arguing that despite his faults, Quwatli was a constitutionally elected president while Za’im was an “illegal” one. As a result, Za’im had him arrested and the People's Party was shut down. He was released shortly afterwards and placed under house arrest in Aleppo. He became highly critical of Za’im when the latter closed Syria's border with
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
and Iraq and threatened to go to war with both countries, accusing them of being agents of Great Britain in the Middle East. On 14 August 1949, he supported a coup that toppled and killed Za’im, launched by General
Sami al-Hinnawi
Sami Hilmy al-Hinnawi ( ar, محمد سامي حلمي الحناوي, Muḥammad Sāmī Ḥilmī al-Ḥinnāwī; 1898 – 31 October 1950) was a Syrian politician and military officer.
Life
On December 19, 1949, Shishakli carried out a coup d' ...
, an old friend of the People's Party and an ally of the Hashemite royals in Baghdad. Hinnawi created a political committee to run political affairs in the absence of an official government and appointed Qudsi to its top leadership. Qudsi also served on the Constitutional Assembly that drafted a new constitution for Syria and became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first post-Za’im cabinet of Prime Minister
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 ...
(an ally of the People's Party as well as a founding member and former president of the National Bloc). His ally Kikhiya became Minister of Interior while other posts were distributed accordingly to members of the People's Party and independents who also opposed the old regime. Qudsi conducted talks with Crown Prince Abd al-Illah of Iraq for creating immediate union between Syria and Iraq and made numerous journeys to Baghdad for the purpose. He formulated an agreement that called for
federal union
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a political union, union of partially Federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central #Federal governments, federal gover ...
, preserving independent governments in Damascus and Baghdad while coordinating military, economic, social, cultural, and political affairs between the two states. He then went to Cairo and proposed a similar program for all Arab states at the
Arab League
The Arab League ( ar, الجامعة العربية, ' ), formally the League of Arab States ( ar, جامعة الدول العربية, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world, which is located in Northern Africa, Western Africa, E ...
on 1 January 1951.
Career before 1961 coup
To advance union talks, al-Atassi, who had recently been elected president of the republic, called on Qudsi to form a government on 24 December 1949. The latter complied, but military officers vetoed his cabinet and he resigned from office five days after coming to power. The officers argued that his government did not include an officer among its midst and that many of its members were declared opponents of officer meddling in political affairs. On 4 June 1950, Qudsi created a new government, less extremist than the first, and was able to secure its approval by appointing General
Fawzi Selu
Fawzi Selu (1905–1972) ( ar, فوزي السلو, Fawzī al-Salū) was a Syrian military leader, politician and the President of Syria from December 3, 1951, to July 11, 1953.
Career
He studied at the Homs Military Academy and joined the Fre ...
as Minister of Defense. Selu was the right-hand-man of General
Adib al-Shishakli
Adib al-Shishakli (1909 – 27 September 1964 ar, أديب الشيشكلي, ʾAdīb aš-Šīšaklī) was a Syrian military leader and President of Syria from 1953 to 1954.
Early life
Adib Shishakli was born (1909) in the Hama Sanjak of Ott ...
, the military strongman of Syria. The cabinet lived for ten months, but was unable to take the union issue any further. Qudsi resigned on 27 March 1951. On 1 October 1951, he was elected Speaker of Parliament. Shortly afterwards, on 28 November, Adib al-Shishakli seized power in Damascus and arrested the entire People's Party leadership, accusing them of wanting to topple Syria's republican regime and replace it with a monarchical one that was loyal to Britain and Iraq. He appointed Selu as provisional head of state and arrested Qudsi, sending him to
Mezzeh prison
Mezzeh prison () is a now-defunct Syrian prison overlooking the capital, Damascus. Mezzeh (also transcribed as ''al-Mazzah'', ''el-Mezze'' etc.) is the name of a neighborhood in western Damascus.
Both military and political prisoners were held at ...
. He was released in January 1952 but placed under house arrest. He joined the underground and worked in secret against Shishakli, supporting a coup d'état that brought him down in February 1954.
In October 1954, Nazim al-Qudsi became a deputy in the first post-Shishakli Parliament and was elected speaker on 14 October 1954. He tried to regain some of his influence in political circles, but by that time, the People's Party had fallen from grace, and few Syrians advocated union with Iraq. Instead, they wanted union with
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, under the rising leadership of the young and charismatic President
Gamal Abd al-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 ...
. In vain, Qudsi tried challenging Nasser's authority. He advocated pro-British and pro-American views at a time when the majority of Syrians had become pro-
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. He called on Syria to join the
Baghdad Pact
The Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), also known as the Baghdad Pact and subsequently known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed in 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turk ...
, an Anglo-American treaty to contain
Communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, and pro-Nasser newspapers accused him of working as an agent for the Hashemites. On 12 October 1957, Qudsi resigned from office and was replaced by the pro-Nasser socialist leader,
Akram al-Hawrani
Akram Al-Hourani ( ar, أَكْرَم الْحَوْرَانِي, ʾAkram al-Ḥawrānī, also transcribed El-Hourani, Howrani or Hurani) (November 1911 – 24 February 1996), was a Syrian politician who played a prominent role during the democrat ...
. He voted against the Syrian-Egyptian union and when the two countries merged to form the
United Arab Republic
The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...
(UAR) in 1958, he resigned from public life altogether and retired to Aleppo.
International relations after the UAR
On 28 September 1961, a
new coup took place in Syria and toppled the UAR government. Qudsi rallied to its support and nominated himself for the first post-union Parliament, becoming a deputy for Aleppo in December 1961. He then ran for presidential office and won, becoming the first post-Nasser leader of Syria on 12 December 1961. As president, he worked to restore Syria's friendship with the anti-Nasser regimes in Jordan,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
, and
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, and build bridges with the United States and Great Britain. The Hashemite family in Baghdad, which had supported his career for the past thirty years, had been toppled by a bloody military revolution in July 1958. He was never on good terms with the new leaders of Iraq, especially the revolt leader, General
Abd al-Karim Qasim
Abd al-Karim Qasim Muhammad Bakr al-Fadhli al-Zubaidi ( ar, عبد الكريم قاسم ' ) (21 November 1914 – 9 February 1963) was an Iraqi Army brigadier and nationalist who came to power when the Iraqi monarchy was overthrown ...
. The West, particularly President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
, welcomed Qudsi's ascent and labeled him a "friend" of the United States. To promote Syria's relations with Washington, Qudsi appointed
Omar Abu-Riche
Omar Abu-Riche ( ar, عمر أبو ريشة, 10 April 1910 – 15 July 1990) was an influential Syrian poet known for his pioneering works.
Biography
Abu-Riche was born into a wealthy literary family in Manbij, near Aleppo. He received his educ ...
, a renowned poet from Aleppo who like him, was an AUB graduate, as ambassador in the years 1961–1963. He began a massive economic reform program, restoring factories that had been
nationalized
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
by Nasser when he headed the UAR, and dismissing all pro-Nasser officials from office. All officers who were still loyal to the Egyptian President were discharged from the Syrian Army. Qudsi drafted a new constitution for Syria, restored the outlawed political parties, and received loans from the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
for rebuilding Syria's dislocated economy.
Presidential term
President Qudsi clashed with the officers that had brought him to power and tried to marginalize their role in political affairs. He appointed
Maarouf al-Dawalibi
Maarouf al-Dawalibi ( ar, معروف الدواليبي, Maʿrūf al-Dawālībī; 29 March 1909 – 15 August 2004), was a Syrian politician and was twice the prime minister of Syria. He was born in Aleppo, and held a Ph.D. in Law. He served as a ...
, a veteran of the People's Party with declared anti-officer views, as Prime Minister and
Rashad Barmada
Rashad Barmada ( ar, رشاد برمدا; 1913 – August 16, 1988) was a Syrian politician between the 1940s and early 1960s. Barmada served as a deputy prime minister, minister of defense for three terms, minister of interior for two terms, and ...
from the same party as Minister of Defense. Bitter from his experience with the officers since the Shishakli era, Dawalibi began curbing their influence in all state affairs and centralizing matters in the hands of Qudsi and the government. On 28 March 1962, a coup d'état took place in Syria, launched by Colonel
Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi
Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi ( ar, عبد الكريم النحلاوي) (born 1926) is a Syrian former military officer and head of the coup which ended the union of Syria and Egypt as the United Arab Republic on 28 September 1961. Al-Nahlawi seized ...
. He arrested Qudsi and Dawalibi, accusing them of misusing their powers and persecuting the officers of the Syrian Army. A counter coup broke out on 2 April, headed by Chief of Staff Abd al-Karim Zahr al-Din, who ordered all troops to stand by President Qudsi. The army complied, releasing Qudsi from prison and restoring the dissolved Parliament. Qudsi refused to arrest or kill Nehlawi, but rather, curbed his power by appointing him
military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...
to
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
—a purely ceremonial post. He then tried to appease the officers and the socialists by calling on
Bashir al-Azma
Bashir al-Azma (1910–1992) ( ar, بشير العظَمة), was a Syrian doctor and politician. He served as Prime Minister of Syria from 16 April to 14 September 1962.
He was born in and raised in the capital Damascus. He obtained his unde ...
, a doctor who had been close to Nasser and who held office as Minister of Health under the UAR, to become Prime Minister in April 1962 and
Rashad Barmada
Rashad Barmada ( ar, رشاد برمدا; 1913 – August 16, 1988) was a Syrian politician between the 1940s and early 1960s. Barmada served as a deputy prime minister, minister of defense for three terms, minister of interior for two terms, and ...
(Qudsi's long time friend) became the Deputy Prime minister.
His cabinet included members of the socialist
Ba'ath Party
The Arab Socialist Baʿath Party ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ' ) was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bītār, and associates of Zaki al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused B ...
that was pro-Nasser. Qudsi and Azma dispatched Foreign Minister
Adnan al-Azhari to Cairo to mend relations with the Egyptian President. When that failed, however, they filed a complaint to the Arab League, accusing him of wanting to destabilize Syria through interfering in its domestic affairs and calling on the army to rebel against the government. On 8 March 1963, however, another coup d'état took place in Syria, launched by the Military Committee of the Ba'ath Party. The officers who came to power pledged to restore the UAR and had Qudsi arrested. He was released after a while. He moved to Lebanon, Europe, and finally to Jordan where he lived in exile until his death in February 1998.
References
Further reading
*Sami Moubayed, "Steel & Silk: Men and Women Who Shaped Syria 1900-2000" (Cune Press, Seattle, 2005).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qudsi, Nazim
1906 births
1998 deaths
Ambassadors of Syria to the United States
American University of Beirut alumni
Foreign ministers of Syria
20th-century Syrian politicians
Leaders ousted by a coup
National Bloc (Syria) politicians
People from Aleppo
People's Party (Syria) politicians
Presidents of Syria
Prime Ministers of Syria
Speakers of the People's Assembly of Syria
Syrian Sunni Muslims
University of Geneva alumni
Al-Qudsi family