Nazim al-Qudsi

Nazim al-Qudsi (ناظم القدسي; 14 February 1906 – 6 February 1998 ), was a Syrian politician who served as President of Syria from 14 December 1961 to 8 March 1963.

Al-Qudsi was born in Aleppo on 14 February 1906.

After receiving his high school degree from the Aleppo American College, Qudsi obtained his law degree from Damascus University.

He later received a master's degree from the American University of Beirut (AUB), and PhD from the University of Geneva's Graduate Institute of International Studies.

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 on a National Bloc ticket and won.

He clashed with the Bloc leadership that failed to prevent the annexation of Alexandretta to Turkey in 1939.

As a result, he resigned from the Bloc ranks.

Qudsi created a coalition of Aleppine intellectuals around himself and Rushdi al-Kikhya, 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, 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 to the United States.

Qudsi founded the Syrian Embassy in Washington, D.C. from scratch, and on 19 March 1945 presented his credentials to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1947, he and Rushdi al-Kikhya 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, maintaining a democratic government, and advocating stronger ties with the West.

The Hashemite royal family in Baghdad 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, launched by Chief of Staff Husni al-Za'im.

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 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, 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 (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, preserving independent governments in Damascus and Baghdad while coordinating military, economic, social, cultural, and political affairs between the two states.

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 as Minister of Defense.

Selu was the right-hand-man of General Adib al-Shishakli, the military strongman of Syria.

The cabinet lived for ten months, but was unable to take the union issue any further.

He then went to Cairo and proposed a similar program for all Arab states at the Arab League on 1 January 1951.

Qudsi resigned on 27 March 1951.

On 1 October 1951, he was elected Speaker of Parliament.