Sabri al-Asali

Sabri al-Asali

Asali (left) signing the unification agreement with Egypt's President Nasser in 1958

Sabri al-Asali ( Arabic صبري العسلي, DMG Ṣabrī al-ʿAsalī ; * 1903 in Damascus , Ottoman Empire ; † April 13, 1976 ibid) was a Syrian politician and three-time Prime Minister of the independent Syrian Republic . He was also Vice President of the United Arab Republic in 1958 .

Life

The Sunni Asali was born into a wealthy, landed family in what was then Ottoman Damascus . His uncle Shukri al-Asali was a famous national leader and deputy in the Ottoman Parliament , who was executed in Beirut on May 6, 1916 by the Vali Cemal Pasha . Sabri al-Asali attended Damascus University and graduated in law in 1925.

During the French mandate rule over Syria, Asali joined the national bloc striving for independence in 1936 and was elected to the Syrian parliament; he was re-elected in 1943, 1947 and 1962. In the cabinet of Sa'd Allah al-Jabiri of October 1945, Asali held the office of Minister of Justice and Education.

After the Syrian Republic gained independence from France in 1946, Asali was appointed Minister of the Interior by Jamil Mardam Bey in 1948. After the military coup in Husni az-Za'im in 1949, Asali was imprisoned. On March 1, 1954, however, he was appointed Prime Minister for the first time, which he only stayed until June 19. As he approached the powerful military, he received a second term on February 13, 1955. This lasted until September 13 of the same year.

When Syria was preparing for a union with Egypt under Nasser due to the Suez crisis in 1956 , Asali also became a Nasserist . He was therefore appointed Prime Minister of the Syrian Republic for the third and last time on June 14, 1956. With the end of his term on February 1, 1958, the United Arab Republic was formed from Egypt and Syria , and Asali became the deputy of President Nasser. After his forced resignation in 1959, Asali joined the Syrian opposition to the Nasser regime in 1960 and supported the 1961 military coup that ended the union and signed the declaration of secession.

After the Baathist coup in 1963, Asali was accused of collaborating with the secessionist regime. His property has been confiscated and his civil rights have been revoked. From then on he withdrew from public life and died on April 13, 1976 in Damascus .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Sami M. Moubayed: Steel & Silk: Men & Women Who Shaped Syria 1900–2000 . Cune Press, 2006, ISBN 1-885942-41-9 , pp. 160-163.