- Arshad al-Umari
Infobox Officeholder
name =Arshad Pasha al-Umari
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order =28th & 41st
office =Prime Minister of Iraq
term_start =June 1 ,1946
term_end =November 21 ,1946 April 29 ,1954 –August 4 ,1954
monarch =Faisal II
predecessor =Tawfiq al-Suwaidi Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali
successor =Nuri as-Said (twice)
birth_date =April 8 ,1888
birth_place =Mosul ,Iraq
death_date =1978
death_place =Baghdad ,Iraq
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footnotes =Arshad Pasha al-Umari (1888 - 1978) ( _ar. إرشاد العمري) was born in
Mosul ,Iraq onApril 8 ,1888 , when his father was Mayor ofMosul . He obtained his high school degree in 1904 when he was 16 years old. After finishing high school atMosul he left forIstanbul , the capital of theOttoman Empire and the learning center, to complete his studies. He did the trip by horses viaAleppo to the port ofAlexandretta on theMediterranean Sea . Such a trip in those days took about 40 days. FromAlexandretta he took the steamer toIstanbul where he was admitted to the Architectural Division of the Royal Engineering College. The teaching staff of the college were professors fromGermany ,Belgium andAustria .He graduated as an architect in 1908 when he was 21 years old, and was appointed in the Architectural Division of the Municipality of
Istanbul . WhenWorld War I broke out in 1914 he was conscripted as an engineer in the Ministry of Defense and when the war was over in 1918 he returned to the Municipality ofIstanbul as Chief Engineer when Jamil Pasha Topuslu was Lord Mayor of Istanbul. He married Rafi'a Khanim, the younger sister of Jamil Pasha the Lord Mayor of Istanbul. Jamil Pasha and Rafi'a Khanim's father was Dhia Pasha who occupied several prominent positions in theOttoman Empire , the most important of which was the personal supervision of the renovation of theDome of the Rock inJerusalem , ordered by the SultanAbdul Hamid II . He lived with his family several years inJerusalem to carry out this job.Career
After
World War I when the Arab countries includingIraq were separated from theOttoman Empire , al-Umari returned fromIstanbul toMosul , in 1919, with his beautiful young wife, where he was appointed chief engineer of the Municipality ofMosul and continued until 1924. During this period his four children, Suad, Frozan (Suzy), Issam and Imad were born inMosul .In 1924 he was elected a member of the first Parliament of
Iraq after the formation of the national government of Iraq under KingFaisal I . From 1925 through 1931 he was Director General of Post and Telegraph, and from 1931 to 1933 Lord Mayor ofBaghdad .On the formation of the
Red Crescent Society (equivalent to theRed Cross ) he was elected President of the society and continued holding that position until 1958, more than 25 years.In 1933 he was Director General of Irrigation, and from 1934 to 1935 he was Minister of Public Works. During his Ministership the opening of the famous oil pipeline from the oilfields at
Kirkuk to the Mediterranean over 1000km was celebrated. In 1935 he was Director General of Municipalities. From 1936 till 1944 he was Lord Mayor ofBaghdad for a second time. The city planning and the general layout of the present modernBaghdad were one of his great achievements of the period. FromJune 4 1944 toAugust 25 1945 he was Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Minister of Defense and Supply. During his Ministership of Foreign Affairs, diplomatic relations were established with the USSR and letters were exchanged between him andVyacheslav Molotov onSeptember 11 ,1944 . Also during his Ministership, theArab League was formed and he headed the Iraqi delegations toCairo ,Egypt , and signed the Charter of theArab League onMarch 22 ,1945 .al-Umari he headed the Iraqi delegation to sign the
United Nations charter atSan Francisco ,California . On the arrival of the delegation toNew York , PresidentFranklin Roosevelt died onApril 12 ,1945 . al-Umari headed the Iraqi delegation at the funeral onApril 14 1945 .On
April 26 the San Francisco Conference consisting of 50 nations met to discuss the draft of the United Nations Organization. al-Umari, the head of the Iraqi delegation, in protest against the apparent intention of the great powers to partition theBritish Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab State, refused to sign the charter and left the conference returning toIraq onJune 13 ,1945 . OnJune 26 the Charter was signed. Dr. Fadhil Al-Jamali signed on behalf ofIraq .After his return to
Iraq , al-Umari resigned from the cabinet as Minister of Foreign Affairs onAugust 25 ,1945 . FromJune 4 toDecember 14 1946 he wasPrime Minister of Iraq for the first time.From
January 29 toJune 23 1948 he was Minister of Defense. In 1952 he was selected to be the Executive Vice-President of the Development Board. The Development Board was formed to undertake the study and execution of major construction schemes such as the Derbandikhan Dam on theDiyala River , the Doukan Dam on theZab river , the Bekhma Dam on theZab river , the Samarra Dam on theTigris River and theTharthar flood protection scheme connected with it, the Eskimosul Dam on theTigris River , later renamed Sadaam Dam, the network of modern highways connecting major cities inIraq , a great number of hospitals, schools and other public institutions.In April 1954, he became
Prime Minister of Iraq for the second time. In 1958, at the age of 70, he retired to his favorite city ofIstanbul . He returned to Iraq in 1968 and spent the rest of his life at theBaghdad residence of his elder son, Dr. Issam ul-Umari. He died in Baghdad in 1978 at the age of 90 and was buried at the family cemetery inMosul .ources
* Harris M. Lentz III, "Heads of States and Governments: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Over 2,300 Leaders, 1945 through 1992". McFarland & Company, Inc., 1994, p. 411. ISBN 0-89950-926-6.
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