Nazim al-Qudsi

Nazim al-Qudsi

Nazim al-Qudsi ( Arabic ناظم القدسي, DMG Nāẓim al-Qudsī ; * February 14, 1906 in Aleppo ; † February 6, 1998 in Amman , Jordan ) was a Syrian politician. He was head of state from December 1961 to March 1963.

Life

Al-Qudsi was born into a Sunni family in Aleppo, which at that time still belonged to the Ottoman Empire .

Al-Qudsi began his law degree at Damascus University . After completing his undergraduate studies, he moved to the American University of Beirut , where he completed his master's degree. He received his doctorate in law from the University of Geneva . In 1935 al-Qudsi returned to Syria, where he was politically committed to the National Bloc , which wanted to achieve Syrian independence through diplomatic channels. In 1936 he entered parliament for the party. However, in 1939 he resigned from the party after this annexation of the Sanjak of Alexandretta by Turkey could not prevent. In 1943 he entered parliament again as an independent. In March 1945 al-Qudsi was entrusted by the government of Shukri al-Quwatli with building the Syrian embassy in the USA .

In 1946 al-Qudsi was involved in building the People's Party . This party, mainly financed by Allepinian notables, propagated democratic forms of government and a foreign policy orientation towards Europe and the USA. In 1949 he was re-elected to parliament for the party. After Shukri al-Quwatli was overthrown by the coup of the head of state Hosni az-Za'im , the putschists al-Qudsi took over the government. However, this refused, citing the government's lack of legitimacy. He was then briefly detained, placed under house arrest and his party banned. After the coup against Zaim by General Sami al-Hinnaui in August 1949, al-Qudsi became foreign minister, and the interior ministry also went to his party. The formation of a cabinet with al-Qudsi as prime minister failed because of the military's veto in September 1949. After General Fawzi Selu was awarded the defense ministry as a representative of the military, a cabinet was founded in June 1950 under al-Qudsi's leadership. Al-Qudsi resigned after ten months and was elected President of Parliament in October 1951. In November 1951, Adib asch-Shishakli again took power through a military coup. Al-Qudsi was arrested with other representatives of his party. He himself was released in January 1951 but placed under house arrest.

After al-Shishakli himself fell victim to another coup, al-Qudsi moved back into parliament and was re-elected President of Parliament in October 1954. Al-Qudsi continued to try to bind his country to the west through the Baghdad Pact , but failed because of the political zeitgeist, which preferred a union with the Nassist Egypt. After the unification of Egypt and Syria in the United Arab Republic , al-Qudsi withdrew from political life.

After Syria declared its independence from the UAR, al-Qudsi was elected President of Syria on December 12, 1961. He played a key role in governance through the appointment of the Prime Ministers. Al-Qudsi tried to reduce the political influence of the military. During his reign he reversed the nationalization of the banking sector and land ownership reforms. In the autumn of 1962, his government presented a plan for the Arabization of the border region with Turkey. He also revoked 120,000 Kurds living on Syrian territory .

After the Baath - coup in March 1963 al-Qudsi was banned for life from Syria. He spent his exile in Europe, Lebanon and Jordan , where he died in 1998.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Sami Moubayed: Steel an Silk - Men an Women who shaped Syria 1900-2000 , Seattle, 2006, pp. 304-308
2. ↑ Usahma Felix Darrah: History of Syria in the 20th Century and under Bashar Al-Asad , Marburg, 2014, pp. 81–83