Skip to content
Surf Wiki
Save to docs
politics

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

National Bloc (Syria)


FieldValue
nameNational Bloc
native_nameالكتلة الوطنية
colorcode
leader1_titleHistorical leaders
leader1_nameIbrahim Hananu
Hashim al-Atassi
Shukri al-Quwatli
Jamil Mardam Bey
Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali
Najib al-Barazi
founded
dissolved
native_name_langar
successorNational Party
People's Party
headquartersDamascus
ideologySyrian nationalism
positionCatch-all (centre-right dominant faction)
sloganFreedom, Justice, equality
countrySyria

Hashim al-Atassi Shukri al-Quwatli Jamil Mardam Bey Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali Najib al-Barazi People's Party

The National Bloc ( Al-Kutlah Al-Wataniyah; French: Bloc national) was a Syrian political party that emerged to fight for Syrian independence during the French Mandate of Syria period.

History

In October 1927, the National Bloc was founded by Ibrahim Hananu, Hashim al-Atassi, Shukri al-Quwatli, Jamil Mardam Bey, Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali, and Najib al-Barazi. It was not a structured party but rather a coalition of parties hostile to the French presence in Syria. The Bloc was led by notable conservatives; land owners, tradesmen, lawyers, etc. This coalition gathered the fifty most rich and powerful families of Syria.

The political involvement of these notable people in the struggle for independence is reminiscent of the political struggle carried out in their youth against the Ottoman Empire. The National Bloc had no precise ideology, nor a social and economic agenda. The main objective which drove the movement forward was to return Syria's independence through diplomatic and non-violent actions.

Legacy

Full independence for Syria, the National Bloc's aim, was achieved by 1946 at which point the party could not withstand personal and regional rivalries. The party was dissolved in 1947 and split into two parties: the National Party, based in Damascus, and the People's Party, based in Aleppo. Whereas the People's Party was friendly to the interests of Hashemite Jordan and Iraq, the National Party was opposed to them. Both parties were major players in Syrian politics until the 1963 Syrian coup d'état which brought the Ba'ath Party to power and drove most political parties underground. Following the Damascus Spring, there was speculation that such parties might be revived. With the onset of the Syrian Civil War, a new National Bloc appeared claiming the heritage of the original party. The new movement was co-founded by Mustafa Kayyali, grandson of one of the historical leaders, Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali.

Bibliography

  • Pierre Guingamp, Hafez El Assad et le parti Baath en Syrie, Editions L'Harmattan, 1996,

References

References

  1. Sami, Moubayed. (26 April 2005). "Syria's Ba'athists loosen the reins". [[Asia Times Online]].
  2. "National Bloc Facebook page".
  3. "Profiles of Syrian Sunni Clerics in the Uprising".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about National Bloc (Syria) — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report