Adib ash-Shishakli

Adib ash-Shishakli

Adib ibn Hasan ash-Shishakli ( Arabic أديب بن حسن الشيشكلي, DMG Adīb b. Ḥasan aš-Šīšaklī , also Adib Chichakli, Chichakly ; * 1909 in Hamah , Syria ; † September 27, 1964 in Ceres , Brazil ) was a Syrian military leader and president (1953–1954).

Life

Early years

Born to Kurdish parents in the city of Hamah, Shishakli served in the French army during the mandate. He studied at the Military Academy of Damascus (which was later moved to Homs ) and became an early member of Antun Saadeh's Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) . His brother Salah was also a prominent member of the SSNP. After the independence of the Syrian Republic in 1948 Shishakli fought in an Arab volunteer army against the Zionist militias Arab-Israeli war .

Political rise

In August 1949, the Syrian President Husni az-Za'im was kicked out of office by his followers asch-Shishakli and Sami al-Hinnawi after he had lost the support of the population. Az-Za'im had come to power himself through a coup four and a half months earlier. His policy aimed at a separate peace with Israel found little support in Syria. Shishakli worked under the new de facto ruler of Syria Sami al-Hinnawi, the chief of staff of the Syrian army . However, Hinnawi refused to officially take over political power and soon returned the business to a civilian government. The nationalist Hashim Chalid al-Atassi , who was president as early as the 1930s, became prime minister and president of Syria. Atassi wanted, with the support of Hinnawi, a pan-Arab union with Hashemite Iraq, which Shishakli strictly rejected.

In December 1949 Shishakli initiated another coup , the third in 1949, in order to break the Hashemite influence in Syria with the arrest of General Hinnawi and to install the nationalist Atassi as president. Shishakli made sure that all governments were occupied with his confidante Fawzi Selu as Minister of Defense in order to curb Hashemite influence in the Syrian government. When Prime Minister Maarouf al-Dawalibi , a pro-Iraq politician from Aleppo , refused, Shishakli ordered Dawalibi's arrest on November 28, 1951. His entire cabinet and all pro-Iraq politicians in Syria, including the leaders of the People's Party, Nazim al-Qudsi and Rushdi al-Kichiya , were imprisoned. In protest, President Atassi resigned and joined the opposition. Shishakli used his right-hand man Fawsi Selu as chief of staff, prime minister, defense minister and state president. Fawzi Selu was nothing more than a puppet. Real power was in the hands of Adib al-Shishakli.

Shishakli dissolved all political parties, banned many critical newspapers and set up a military regime. The National Party , the People's Party , the Communist Party , the Syrian Ba'ath Party and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood have suffered persecution under his rule . The leading Ba'ath politicians Akram al-Haurani , Michel Aflaq and Salah ad-Din al-Bitar were exiled to Lebanon , from where they then acted actively against his regime. In August 1952 he founded an official ruling party, the Arab Liberation Movement, but it was boycotted by powerful representatives of civil political society such as Hashim al-Atassi.

As President of Syria, Shishakli sought, on the one hand, good relations with Western countries, and, on the other hand, Syria pursued an uncompromising attitude towards Israel. Syrian relations with the Hashemite monarchies of Jordan and Iraq were characterized by mistrust due to the rapid spread of Nasserism . Despite his pro-Western stance and his Kurdish origins, Shishakli pursued a policy of pan-Arabism . He often came into conflict with the independent Druze minority. He accused them of using funds from Jordan to prepare for the overthrow of his regime. In 1954 he had the Druze region (e.g. in the Jebel ad-Duruz area ) bombed in order to break the resistance.

Decline

Growing dissatisfaction led to another coup in which Shishakli was overthrown in February 1954. The conspirators against Shishakli were members of the Syrian Communist Party , disgruntled Druze officers, Ba'ath Party members under the leadership of the former President Atassi and the Druze leader Sultan al-Atrash . According to speculation, these were also supported by Iraq.

Shishakli fled to Lebanon, but when the Druze leader Kamal Jumblat issued death threats against him, he fled to Brazil. Before Syria and Egypt merged to form the United Arab Republic in 1958 , Shishakli toyed with the idea of ​​returning to Syria in order to regain power through another coup. The coup was foiled and Shishakli was sentenced to death in absentia .

On September 27, 1964, Shishakli was murdered in the Brazilian city ​​of Ceres (State of Goiás ) by Nawaf Ghazala , a Syrian Druze, in revenge for the bombing of the Druze area. The perpetrator became a national hero of the Druze. When he died in 2005, thousands of people attended his funeral.

Web links

• Adib asch-Schischakli in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)