Maamun al-Kuzbari

Infobox_President
name = Maamun al-Kuzbari
مأمون الكزبري


imagesize =
order = Interim President of Syria
term_start = September 29 1961
term_end = November 20 1961
predecessor = Gamal Abdul Nasser (as part of the UAR)
successor = Izzat al-Nuss (interim)
office1 = Prime Minister of Syria
term_start1 = September 29 1961
term_end1 = November 20 1961
predecessor1 = Abdul Hamid Sarraj
successor1 = Izzat al-Nuss
birth_date = 1914
birth_place = Damascus, Syria
death_date = 1998 (aged 74)
death_place = Beirut, Lebanon
spouse =
party =
religion = Islam

Maamun al-Kuzbari (1914-1998) ( _ar. مأمون الكزبري) was a Syrian literary personality, politician and acting head of state (September 29 - November 20, 1961) from a prominent Damascus family.

Career

He studied International law at the University of Lyon and became an attorney and a professor at Damascus University. He entered parliament as an independent in 1953, allying himself with military strongman Adib al-Shishakli, who appointed him Speaker that same year. He was also appointed chairman of the Constitutional Assembly charged by Shishakli to amend the constitution in order to legitimize and extend the dictator's hold on power. Shishakli also appointed him vice-president and secretary general of the Arab Liberation Movement (ALM), Shishakli's political vehicle. He also managed the party's daily newspaper, "Al Tahrir al Arabi" ("The Arab Liberation"). Kuzbari was useful to Shishakli by presenting a cultured civilian veneer to the dictator's officer-dominated regime. After Shishakli was overthrown, Kuzbari used his position as Speaker to appoint himself President in an emergency session of parliament on February 25, 1954. He unabashedly dismissed all of his former mentor's associates from office and replaced them with his own loyalists, and issued an address to the nation appealing for support. However, these actions did not enjoy any such support, and popular former president Hashim al-Atassi, whose administration was interrupted by Shishakli's coup in 1949, was recalled to complete his term. Kuzbari was forced to step down from his self-appointed post, but remained head of the ALM. He returned to parliament in October of that year. In February of 1955 he was appointed minister of justice under prime minister Sabri al Asali and in September of that same year he became minister of education under prime minister Saeed al Ghazzi. He kept that post until June, 1956. In May of 1956 he became acting president of Damascus University. In 1958, under president Shukri al-Kuwatli, Kuzbari took part in unification talks with Egypt that resulted in the formation of the United Arab Republic. He was politically inactive during the union, and three years later he endorsed the coup in Syria that dissolved it, claiming that Egypt's (and the UAR's) president, Gamal Abdul Nasser was a dictator. One of the leading officers of that coup was Kuzbari's cousin, Haydar al-Kuzbari, and the coup leaders asked Maamun to form the first post-UAR government. He became prime minister and acting president, until his cousin and main military backers were themselves arrested in a new coup less than two months later, and he was forced step down. His position as head of state was very tenuous, as he lacked Nasser's stature and charisma. In December of 1961, Kuzbari returned as a deputy in parliament and tried to renominate himself for president, but his candidacy was vetoed by the military. Nazim al-Kudsi became president, and reappointed Kuzbari as Speaker. On March 28, 1962 both Kuzbari and Kudsi were arrested in an attempted coup by military strongman Abdul Karim al-Nehlawi, but were released when it failed. He remained speaker until September 12, 1962.

Exile and death

He was arrested again in yet another coup on March 8, 1963, and after a brief imprisonment was exiled, settling for a short time in Paris before relocating to Morocco. He taught at Rabat University until he moved to Lebanon when that country's civil war ended in 1991. He died in Beirut in 1998 and was buried in Damascus.

References

* Sami Moubayed "Steel & Silk: Men and Women Who Shaped Syria 1900-2000" (Cune Press, Seattle, 2005).