Jamil Mardam Bey
Encyclopedia
Jamil Mardam Bey, was a Syrian politician, Born in Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

 to a prominent aristocratic Sunni Muslim family. He is descended from Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

's general, statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...

, and Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...

 Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha
Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha
Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha was an Ottoman general and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.He had risen to the position of Beylerbey of Damascus and then to that of Fifth Vizier...

. He studied at the school of Political Science in Paris and was a founder of Al-Fatat
Al-fatat
Al-Fatat or the Young Arab Society was founded in 1911 by Arab nationalist, Izzat Darwaza .It was a secret Arab nationalist organization under the Ottoman Empire. Its aims were to gain independence and unity for various Arab nations then under the Ottoman rule. It found adherents in areas such as...

, the leading opposition party in Ottoman Syria
Ottoman Syria
Ottoman Syria is a European reference to the area that during European Renaissance from the late 15th to early 18th century was called the Levant within the early period of the Ottoman Empire, the Orient until the early 19th century, and Greater Syria until 1918...

.

Early life

Al-Fatat
Al-fatat
Al-Fatat or the Young Arab Society was founded in 1911 by Arab nationalist, Izzat Darwaza .It was a secret Arab nationalist organization under the Ottoman Empire. Its aims were to gain independence and unity for various Arab nations then under the Ottoman rule. It found adherents in areas such as...

 was founded by five Arab students living in Paris in 1911. The organization called on Arab and Turkish citizens to remain united within the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 framework, but claimed that the Arabs should have equal rights and obligations as their Ottoman counterparts. In 1913, Al-Fatat moved its offices to Beirut. In 1914, its founders opened an office in Damascus to coordinate nationalist activity.
In the summer of 1913, the Al-Fatat founders called for the Arab Congress of 1913
Arab Congress of 1913
The Arab Congress of 1913 met in a hall of the French Geographical Society at 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain from June 18–23 in Paris to discuss reforms to grant Arabs more autonomy under the Ottoman Empire...

 in Paris to discuss the deteriorating living standards in the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

. Not wishing to create a permanent break up with authorities in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, the founders did not call for complete Arab liberation, but tried to sort out its relations with the Ottomans. When that failed, they publicly headed the separatist movement demanding a complete break with the Ottomans.

In 1916, Jamil Mardam Bey joined the Arab revolt of Sharif Hussein ibn Ali, a military uprising demanding full independence for the Arab provinces in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans sentenced him to death in absentia and he fled to Europe where he coordinated nationalists activity between the politicians in exile and the underground in Syria. His comrades were hanged in public in Damascus and Beirut on May 6, 1916.

Political life

When the Ottoman Empire was defeated in 1918, Mardam Bey returned to Syria. In 1919, he accompanied King Faisal I to the Paris Peace Conference and became Deputy to the Foreign Minister Abdul Rahman Shahbandar. Mardam Bey took part in the diplomatic talks between Syria and the French aimed at preventing the implementation of the French Mandate in the Middle East. Along with Shahbandar, Mardam Bey met with French General Henri Gouraud and tried to reach a compromise, but the talks ended in failure.

On July 24, 1920, Jamil Mardam Bey was sentenced to death by the French army after they had dethroned King Faisal. Mardam Bey fled to Jerusalem and remained there until the mandate authority issued an amnesty and allowed him back to Damascus in 1921. He became a member in the Iron Hand Society, an underground movement headed by Shahbandar. In May 1922, the French accused both him and Shahbandar of meeting in secret with envoys of the US government and striving to topple the French Mandate in Syria. Mandated authorities sentenced Shahbandar to twenty years in prison and banished Mardam Bey to Europe, where he remained until the French issued another amnesty in 1924.
Upon his return to Damascus, Jamil Mardam Bey joined the People's Party, the first modern party in French Mandate Syria. It was headed by Shahbandar and funded by King Faisal I, who by then had become the King of Iraq. The party worked to terminate the mandate and establish an Arab kingdom headed by a member of the Hashemite
Hashemite
Hashemite is the Latinate version of the , transliteration: Hāšimī, and traditionally refers to those belonging to the Banu Hashim, or "clan of Hashim", a clan within the larger Quraish tribe...

 family – either Faisal or his brother, King Abdullah of Jordan
Abdullah I of Jordan
Abdullah I bin al-Hussein, King of Jordan [‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Husayn] عبد الله الأول بن الحسين born in Mecca, Second Saudi State, was the second of three sons of Sherif Hussein bin Ali, Sharif and Emir of Mecca and his first wife Abdiyya bint Abdullah...

.

In July 1925, the chieftain, Sultan al-Atrash
Sultan al-Atrash
Sultan al-Atrash, Commonly known as Sultan Pasha al-Atrash was a prominent Arab Druze leader, Syrian nationalist and Commander General of the Syrian Revolution . He fought against the Ottomans, French, and even against the Syrian government in its days of dictatorship...

, launched a military uprising against the French from Arab mountains. Shahbandar served as the revolt's mastermind and delegated Mardam Bey to channel funds from Amman and to recruit members into the rebel army from Damascus. He also smuggled weapons from Palestine and offered sanctuary to the Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...

 warriors in the Ghouta
Ghouta
Ghouta , is a collection of farms in Rif Dimashq close to the eastern part of Damascus, Syria.The Damascus Ghouta is a green agricultural belt surrounding the city of Damascus in the South and East. Separating the city from the Syrian Steppe, it has provided its inhabitants with a variety of...

 orchards that surrounded Damascus. Mardam Bey's orchards in Ghouta, known as Hosh al-Maban, became storehouses for arms and ammunition. In 1927, the revolt was crushed by the French Army and its leaders were sentenced to death, but all of them evaded arrest and fled into exile. Atrash and Shahbandar fled to Amman
Amman
Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...

 while Mardam Bey went to Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...

, but he was arrested by British authorities, and extradited to the mandate authority in Syria. For one year, Mardam Bey was imprisoned in Arwad Island on the Syrian coast, but he was released by a general amnesty in 1928.

Mardam Bey then returned to Damascus and helped co-found the National Bloc
National Bloc
The National Bloc was a Nablus-based party established in 1935 in the British Mandate for Palestine by Abd al-Latif Salah. Salah generally took an anti-Husayni stance.- References :...

 in October 1927, the leading anti-French movement in Syria. The Bloc was to contest the leadership of Shahbandar and his People's Party in future years. The party was composed of politicians landowners, merchants, and lawyers who wanted to terminate the mandate through diplomatic means rather than armed resistance. Hashim Al-Atassi
Hashim al-Atassi
Hashim Bay Khalid al-Atassi was a Syrian nationalist, statesman and its President from 1936 to 1939, 1949 to 1951, and 1954 to 1955.- Background and early career :...

, a former prime minister under Faisal, became its president and appointed Mardam Bey to a permanent member of its executive council. Mardam Bey nominated himself on a Bloc ticket for parliament in 1928, 1932, 1936, and 1943, winning in every round. In 1932, he became minister of Finance in the cabinet of Prime Minister Haqqi Al-Azm
Haqqi al-Azm
Haqqi al-Azm was a Syrian politician. He was active in the Ottoman government, and later served as the first prime minister in republican Syria.-Origins and early career:...

.
In 1936, Jamil Mardam Bey helped orchestrate a sixty-day strike in Syria where the whole of Syrian society closed down in protest to French policies. The strike turned violent, claimed lives on both sides, and forced the French to acknowledge the National Bloc leaders as the true representation of the Syrian people. A senior Bloc delegation was invited to Paris for independence talks in March–September 1936. Mardam Bey accompanied Hashim al-Atassi to France and was the principle architect of an agreement that guaranteed independence for Syria over a twenty-five year period. In exchange for independence, the National Bloc agreed to give France numerous political, economic, and military privileges in Syria and support her in the Middle East if another deadly war were to break out in Europe. The Bloc returned to Syria in triumph and Atassi was elected president of the republic. In turn, Atassi called Jamil Mardam Bey to form a government on December 21, 1936.
The Atassi-Mardam Bey alliance was fraught with problems from the outset. Among other things, they faced disturbances in the Jazeera district of northeast Syria, where locals refused to submit to the new regime and demanded the autonomy that France had granted them in the 1920s. Other problems grew out of domestic opposition to Mardam Bey's former patron, Dr Abdul Rahman Shahbandar.

After spending twelve years in exile, the veteran nationalist Shahbandar returned to Syria in 1937 and expected to receive a government post in the new administration. Fearing that Shahbandar's popularity would sideline him, Mardam Bey refused to give him a position in the government and tried to control the activities of his former patron. When Shahbandar requested permission to open a political party, Mardam Bey also refused. Shahbandar criticized him, claiming that he was leading a dictorship in Syria. Mardam Bey responded by placing Shahbandar under house arrest at his summer resort in Bludan. When a bomb exploded in Mardam Bey's car, he immediately accused Shahbandar of the attempt of assassination, and ordered the arrest of Shahbandar's right hand man, Nasuh Babil, owner and publisher of the Damascus daily Al-Ayyam
Al-Ayyam
al-Ayyam is an Arabic language newspaper, based in Ramallah. It was established in 1995, and it's the second-largest circulation daily newspaper in the Palestinian territories.- References :*...

.
Adding to Mardam Bey's worries was an evolving crisis with France, where the French reneged on the promised treaty, claiming that if war were to break out in Europe they would need to use their Middle Eastern colonies as strategic out-posts. Shahbandar criticized Mardam Bey's inability to get the French to honor the Treaty of 1936. Unable to implement this promised treaty, and facing mounting pressure from Shahbandar and the public, Jamil Mardam Bey resigned from office on February 23, 1939.
In July 1940, Adbdulrahman Shahbandar was murdered in Damascus, and his family accused Jamil Mardam Bey and the two Bloc leaders, Lutfi al-Haffar and Saadallah al-Jabiri
Saadallah al-Jabiri
Saadallah al-Jabiri , is a Syrian politician and a two-time prime minister of Syria. He was born in Aleppo, and became the leader of the National Bloc during the French mandate era. He also served as foreign minister in a number of cabinets....

, of the assassination. The accusations were backed by Bahij Bey Al-Khatib, the new head of state. Ex-Prime Minister Mardam Bey fled to Iraq, where Prime Minister Nuri Al Said gave him political asylum. Mardam Bey was tried in absentia, but was declared innocent of the charges and returned to Syria in 1941.
In 1943, Mardam Bey allied himself with the National Bloc leader, Shukri al-Quwatli, and they ran on a joint list for parliament. When Kuwatli was elected president in August 1943, he appointed Mardam Bey as minister of foreign affairs in the National Bloc cabinet of Prime Minister Saadallah al-Jabiri. Kuwatli co-authored the constitution of the Arab League and laid out its infrastructure with the league's secretary-general, Abdulrahman Azzam.
In November 1944, Jamil Mardam Bey became minister of foreign affairs, economy, defense, and deputy to Prime Minister Fares Al-Khoury
Fares al-Khoury
Faris al-Khoury was a Syrian Christian statesman, minister, Prime Minister, speaker of Parliament, and Godfather of modern Syrian politics; born in Hasbaya in today's modern Lebanon, it was then part of Syria. Faris Khoury went on to become Prime minister of Syria from 14 October 1944 to 1...

. Mardam Bey held all four positions until August 1945. He led diplomatic talks with the French and tried to secure a treaty, similar to the one of 1936 that guaranteed independence for Syria. This time, however, he refused to grant any privileges to the French in Syria.
On May 29, 1945, French General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....

 ordered an air raid on Damascus and demanded the arrest of President Kuwatli, Acting Prime Minister Jamil Mardam Bey, and Saadallah Al-Jabiri, the speaker of parliament. All three of them were charged with obstructing French interest in the Middle East. In the Damascus air raid, the French destroyed the Syrian parliament and the ministry of defense. French troops raided Mardam Bey's private office, confiscated all official documents, and burned the office down.
When Syria achieved independence on April 17, 1946, Jamil Mardam Bey began grooming himself for the upcoming elections and had his eyes set on the presidency. In a bid at curbing his influence, president Kuwatli appointed him ambassador to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and then Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

. In 1947, however, Prime Minister Saadallah Al-Jabiri died and left a vacuum at the premiership. Unable to find a suitable substitute, Kuwatli called on Mardam Bey to form a government on October 5, 1947. Mardam Bey created his second cabinet from former members of the National Bloc who has transformed the Bloc into the National Party. He appointed Munir al-Ajlani
Munir al-Ajlani
Munir al-Ajlani was a politician, writer, lawyer, and scholar. He made history as the youngest Syrian minister...

 Minister of Education. Mardam Bey appointed himself minister of foreign affairs and health. When, on May 26, 1948, Defense Minister Ahmad Al-Sharabati resigned from office, Mardam Bey took over the Ministry of Defense as well.

Arab-Israeli War

Mardam Bey ruled Syria with President Shukri al-Quwatli during the first Arab-Israeli War of 1948. The war defeat damaged Mardam Bey's credibility among conservatives who accused him of poor leadership at the war front. Accusations were fired at him from different opposition parties, including the Baath Party of Michel Aflaq
Michel Aflaq
Michel Aflaq was a Syrian philosopher, who is credited with being the ideological founder of ba'athism, a hybrid of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism.-Early life:...

, which claimed that Mardam Bey had profiteered at the army's expense. Mardam Bey was also accused, along with ex-Defense Minister Ahmad Al-Sharabati and Finance Minister Wehbe al-Harriri, of having purchased arms at inflated prices and then pocketing the difference. Mardam Bey also clashed with the officers, accusing Chief of Staff Husni al-Za'im of inefficiency in battle and calling for his dismissal from office.
When anti-Mardam Bey riots took over Syria, the prime minister responded with force, declaring martial law, appointing himself military governor, and arresting prominent critics like Michel Aflaq. He then ordered the army to keep order on the streets and had many demonstrators arrested in Damascus and Aleppo. Under advice from President Kuwatli, however, Mardam Bey resigned from office on August 22, 1948. He then announced his resignation from political life and warned that ruling Syria would be difficult in the face of the army-civilian divide at home and the Israeli threat on Syria's border.

Later life

Jamil Mardam Bey spent the remainder of his years between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, living in self imposed exile. He was an honored guest of the courts of King Farouk and King Abdulaziz. He made friends with the officers who came to power in Cairo in July 1952, as well as senior members of the Saudi Royal family. in 1955, President Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...

asked Mardam Bey to run for presidential office in Syria, claming that Cairo would support his candidacy, but the ex-prime minister declined the offer for health reasons. Jamil Mardam Bey died in Cairo in 1960 and was buried in Damascus.
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