Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali

Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali ( Arabic عبد الرحمن الكيالي, DMG ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān al-Kaiyālī ; * 1887 ; † September 13, 1969 ) was a doctor and politician of the Syrian independence movement. During the French mandate rule over Syria, he held the office of Syrian Minister of Justice twice . He was one of the founders of the National Bloc , a political coalition of notables and influential Syrian families that campaigned for the end of the French presence.

life and career

Kayyali graduated from the American University of Beirut with a degree in medicine in 1914 and then opened a private clinic in his hometown of Aleppo . After the end of the rule of the Ottoman Empire over Syria in World War I and the appointment of the High Commissioner for the Levant by the Entente power of France , Kayyali supported an armed insurrection movement in the outskirts of Aleppo, which, after its leader Ibrahim Hananu, is also known as the "Hananu Revolt" referred to as. Hananu and Kayyali were also joint founders of the “Arab Club of Aleppo”, a political group that propagated nationalistic and sometimes militant ideas against the French occupation.

Kayyali gained his popularity and following, among other things, by providing free medical care to parts of the poor Aleppo population. In 1928 Kayyali ran for the first time successfully for the parliament in the state of Syria (1925-1930), which consisted of a merger of the two states of Aleppo and Damascus and did not include the Alawite state , the Druze state and Greater Lebanon . The opposition party of the National Bloc, co-founded by Kayyali, campaigned for the integration of these territories into Greater Syria . Kayyali contributed to drafting a constitution for the Syrian Republic, founded in 1930 .

After Syria's formal independence in 1936, President Haschim al-Atasi appointed Kayyali initially as Syria's non-resident ambassador to the League of Nations and a little later as Minister of Justice. He held this office from 1936 to 1939 and from 1943 to 1945. In 1947 he was appointed a Syrian delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations , although he was recalled when a military coup in 1949 changed power.

meaning

Kayyali wrote memoirs on the French mandate and died in 1969 in his hometown of Aleppo. Today he is regarded as a prominent representative of a European-educated, urban upper class of Syria, which nevertheless maintained diverse and close relationships with the various ethnic, social and religious groups. Kayyali's grandchildren include the Syrian-born transplant doctor and healthcare entrepreneur Zeid Kayyali in Rialto and the dentist Mustafa Kayyali , who at the beginning of the protest movement that culminated in the Syrian civil war campaigned for the re-occupation of the National Bloc as an opposition party and as a co-founder of a movement named Syrian Charter Council made public appearance.

literature

Kayyali, Abd al-Rahman: al - Marahil fi al - intidab al -fara nsi wa fi nidalina alwatani (The phases of French mandate rule and our national struggle), Aleppo 1958–1960, memoirs 4 volumes.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Sami M. Moubayed: Steel & Silk: Men and Women who Shaped Syria 1900-2000 . Seattle, WA 2006, p. 269 .
2. ^ DK Fieldhouse: Western Imperialism in the Middle East 1914-1958 . Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2006, pp. 283 .
3. ↑ Philip Shukry Khoury: Syria and the French mandates: The Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920-1945 . Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ 1987, pp. 440 .
4. ↑ Philip Shukry Khoury: Syria and the French mandates: The Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920-1945 . Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ 1987, pp. 272 .
5. ^ National Democratic Block. Retrieved January 28, 2020 (UK English). 
6. ^ Daniel-Dylan Böhmer: Syria: A Reconciliation Treaty for the Civil War Country . In: THE WORLD . January 28, 2018 ( welt.de [accessed January 28, 2020]).
7. ↑ Peace for Syria: Secret Mission Reconciliation. Retrieved January 28, 2020 .