Syria: history, politics, and contemporary issues

Syria

I am Osmane Arslanian, Ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations Organization, and I am deeply privileged to speak about my country and its people.

Syria first referred to the land of Aram East of the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Arabia to the south and Cilicia to the north, crossing inland, including Mesopotamia (Wikipedia 2004) and from west to east Commagene, Sophene and Adiabene, or what was known as Assyria. This was the larger Syria, which consisted of smaller regions, such as Palestine in the southwest, Phoenicia along the coast, Coele-Syria north of the Eleutheris River, and Mesopotamia. Palestine, later known as Israel, is now composed of the states of Israel and Jordan

My country, Syria, is considered the center of one of the most ancient civilizations in the world, rooted in particular on the origin of the language of Ebla in Northern Syria, credited by scholars as the oldest Semitic language (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). It was spoken by a great Semitic empire that spread from the Red Sea north to Turkey and east to Mesopotamia between 2500 and 2400 BC by an estimated population of 260,000.

Cultures poured into Syria as it was occupied successively by Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Nabataeans, Byzantines, and somewhat, by the Crusaders before its conquest by the Ottoman Turks (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). It has a special place in the history of Christianity because of Damascus, where Paul the Apostle was headed for when converted and then organized the Christian Church in Antioch in ancient Syria.

Damascus is believed to have been founded in 2500 BC and remains as one of the oldest and still surviving cities in the world. It fell to the Muslims in AD 636 under whom it prospered and became powerful under the Omayyad Empire. When the Abbasid caliphate was installed in Baghdad, Iraq, it became the capital of the empire, which stretched from Spain to India from 661 to 750 (BNEA). Around the year 1260, Damascus became the provincial capital of the Mameluke Empire before it was severely destroyed by Tamerlane, the Mongol conqueror, in 1400. It was rebuilt in 1516 but fell the following year to the Ottoman Turks the following year and remained under their rule for four centuries, save for a brief conquest by Egypt's Ibrahim Pasha from 1832 to 1840 (BNEA).

In 1920, Syria became an independent Arab kingdom under King Faysal of the Hashemite family. King Faysal later became King of Iraq (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). He only briefly ruled Syria for a few months, though. It was conquered by French forces following the battle of Maysalun. When France fell in 1940, the control of Syria passed on to the Vichy government, a republican group, which put much pressure for the evacuation of French troops in April 1946 (BNEA). The kingdom went through swift economic growth after the declaration of independence on April 17, 1946 but it also experienced much political turbulence along with it. Military coups destabilized civilian rule and put army colonel Adib Shishakli into power in 1951, only to be overthrown by another coup in 1954. More political conflicts followed until Arab nationalist and socialist forces enshrined themselves (BNEA).

This troubled state of affairs following the 1954 coup, the compatibility between Syrian and Egyptian policies and the attraction of then Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser occurring simultaneously with the 1956 Suez Canal crisis led to the unification between Syria and Egypt (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004) on February 1, 1958 into the United Arab Republic. This merger ended all the political dissension in Syria for a while, until a military coup on September 28, 1961 by Syria, which seceded from the unification and re-established itself as the Syrian Arab Republic. But more coups followed in the succeeding 18 months that ended on March 8, 1963 with the establishment of the Syrian army officers of the National Council of Revolutionary Command or NCRC. They took over all executive and legislative powers of government. Behind the action were the members of the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party or the Ba'ath Party. The Ba'ath then remained active in Syria and other Arab countries since the 40s and it controlled the new cabinet (BNEA). It worked at a federation with Egypt and Ba'ath-controlled Iraq and an agreement was attempted in Cairo on April 17, 1963 for a referendum on unity in September that year. But serious discords among the parties prevented a tripartite unity. Instead, efforts were directed at a bilateral unity between Syria and Iraq. But plans and efforts had to be abandoned when the Ba'aths in Iraq were overthrown in November 1963.

In May of 1964, Amin Hafiz, president of the National Council of the Revolutionary Command, promulgated a constitution that provided for a National Council of the Revolution. This Council consisted of representatives from mass labor, peasant and professional organizations with a presidential council, which exercised executive power and had a cabinet (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). An intra-party coup by a group of army officers on February 23, 1966 overturned the government of President Hafiz and imprisoned him, dissolved his cabinet and the council, Instead, it altered the provisional constitution and installed a regionalist civilian Ba'ath government, describing the action as a "rectification" of the Ba'ath Party principles (BNEA).

The Arab-Israeli War was waged and lost by the Syrians and Egyptians in June 1967 and Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel (Central Intelligence Agency 2004). This defeat also weakened the radical socialist rule of the 1966 coup takers, as dissension developed between the moderate military and the extremist civilian factions of the Ba'ath Party. This was illustrated by the infamous Black September hostilities with Jordan.

In November 1970, a bloodless military coup was led by Minister of Defense Hafiz al-Asad, who assumed power as prime minister (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). He immediately set up an organizational infrastructure and control. His socialist party set up a 173-member legislature, called the People's Council, where 87 of this party won and shared seats with popular and minor organizations. A national referendum was held and confirmed Asad's presidency for another seven years (BNEA). He formed the National Progressive Front, led by the Ba'ath Party, which set up local councils in Syria's 14 provinces or governorates. A new Syrian Constitution then became effective in March 1973 and re-enabled parliamentary elections for the people's councils, which ceased in 1962 (BNEA).

Hafiz al-Asad's government had opponents and challengers, most seriously the fundamentalist Sunni Muslims in the late 1970s. These contenders rejected the basic principles of the secular Ba'ath program and the rule by the Alawis, which they viewed as heretical (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). They belonged to the archconservative Muslim Brotherhood that attempted an uprising against the government in February 1982. Government forces, instead, crushed the rebellion by razing their center at the city of Hama with artillery fire, killing and wounding thousands. This show of force and superiority discouraged any more opposition activity against the government (BNEA).

Syrian troops have been stationed in Lebanon since the loss of Golan Heights to Israel in the Arab-Israeli War of 1976 and retained a peace-keeping stance. There have been occasional peace talks between Syria and Israel about the restoration of Golan Heights to Syria (Wikipedia 2004) when Syria joined the U.S.-led multinational coalition against Saddam Hussein in 1990, which started during the multilateral Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid in October 1991. The direct negotiations failed, however, and no further attempts were undertaken since President Hafiz Al-Asad's meeting with then U.S. President Bill Clinton in Geneva in March 2000 (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). Hafiz Al-Asad died on June 10, 2000 after a 30-year rule.

Immediately after the death of Hafiz Al-Asad, the parliament amended the minimum age for president from 40 to 34, in order to accommodate the nomination of his son, Bashar Al-Asad, by the ruling Ba'ath party (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004) and his eventual and virtually un-opposed election as President on July 10, 2000 by a 97.29% vote.

Since the September 11, 2001 bombing of the Twin Towers in New York City, Syria's cooperation with the U.S. In its global war against terrorism dwindled. It opposed the Iraq War in March 2003. The position did not only result in the deterioration of cooperative relations with the U.S. But also led the U.S. And its Western allies to categorize Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism (Wikipedia 2004). As such, it became the limited target of eventual American sanctions, which U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law in December 2003 as the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003. It imposed the sanctions on Syria if it would cease supporting Palestinian terrorist groups and its military and security presence in Lebanon, securing weapons of mass destruction and unless it paid its obligations for the reconstruction and stabilization of Iraq, according to the United Nations Security Council resolutions (Wikipedia). Consequently in May 2004, President Bush decided that Syria failed to meet these conditions and, as sanctions, prohibited exports to Syria of items in the U.S. Munitions list and Commerce Control list, of U.S. products except food and medicines and the landing or take-off of Syrian government-owned aircraft in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Treasury also intended to order American financial institutions to cut off correspondent accounts with the Commercial Bank of Syria on money-laundering reasons and pursuant to section 311 of the U.S.A. Patriot Act (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). And using his international emergency economic powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act or IEEPA, President Bush also authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to freeze the assets of certain Syrian persons and government entities (BNEA).

Last September 2, the United Security Council adopted Resolution 1559, which was authored by France and the U.S. And called upon all remaining forces to withdraw from Lebanon as well as reiterated the UN's solid support for Lebanon's territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence. It had strong reference to, and against, Syria (CIA 2004).

As of July 2004, we are more than 18 million in population, with approximately 40,000 of us living in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Our population grows at a rate of 2.4% annually (Central Intelligence Agency 2004). We Syrians are 90% Arabs and the remaining 10% are Kurds, Armenians and other minor races. In the religions we practice, 74% are Sunni Muslim; 16% are Alawite, Druze and other Muslim sects; and the remaining 10% are Christian and Jewish. Arabic is our official language, but we also widely understand Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian and some French and English (CIA). Our basic literacy rate is 76.9%.

The local long form of my Republic is Al Jumhuriyah al Arabiyah as Suriyah or Suriyah for short and our capital is Damascus (Central Intelligence Agency 2004). Our 14 administrative divisions or provinces are Al Hasakah, Al Ladhiqiyah, Al Qunaytirah, Ar Raqqah, As Suwayda', Da'a, Dayr az Zawr, Dimashq, Halab, Hamah, Hims, Idlib, Rif Dimashq, and Tartus. Our legal system derives from the Islamic law and civil law system and from special religious courts and has not accepted compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction (CIA). Our chief of state is President Bashar al-ASAD. Other state officials are Vice Presidents Abd al-Halim ibn Said KHADDAM and Muhammad Zuhayr MASHARIQA, Prime Minister Muhammad Naji al-UTRI, Deputy Prime Ministers Lieutenant General Mustafa TALAS, Farouk al-SHARA and Dr. Muhammad al-HUSAYN. The President appoints the Council of Ministers and the people directly elect the President for a term of seven years (CIA).

Our unicameral People's Council or Majlis al-shaab makes our laws. This Council has 250 members who are also popularly voted for a term of four years (Central Intelligence Agency 2004). The last Council election was held on March 2 and 3, 2003. The Council is composed of the National Progressive Front or NPF at 67% and 33% independents, as guaranteed by the Constitution that the Ba'ath Party must constitute half of the total number of seats. Our courts of law consist of a Supreme Constitutional Court, whose justices are appointed to four-year terms; a High Judicial Council; a Court of Cassation; and state security courts (CIA).

Our major political parties and their heads are the National Progressive Front or NPF, led by President Bashar as the secretary-general; Socialist Unionist Democratic Party, led by Ahmad al ASAD; the Syrian Communist Party; the Unionist Socialist Party; the Arab Socialist Party, led by Abd al-Ghani QANNUT; and Arab Socialist Unionist Movement, led by Sami SUFAN and President Bashar alk-ASAD as chairman; the Syrian Arab Socialist Party, led by Safwan QUDSI; the Syrian Communist Party, led by Yusuf FAYSAL; and the Syrian Social National Party, led by Jubran URAYJI (Central Intelligence Agency 2004). Conservative religious leaders and the Muslim Brotherhood, which operates while on exile in Jordan and Yemen, exert strong political pressure.

Our Constitution requires that the President should be Muslim without making Islam the state religion. But it establishes the Islamic jurisprudence as the main source of our laws (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). Our judicial system is a composite of Ottoman, French and Islamic laws and consisting of three court levels: courts of first instance, courts of appeal and the constitutional court, which is the high tribunal. Syria is a republic wherein we choose our President but cannot change our form of government. The President is the commander-in-chief of our military consisting of 400,000 troops upon mobilization (BNEA). The deterioration of our ties with the Soviet Union significantly reduced my country's ability to secure modern military equipment, because the Soviet Union was our principal source of training, material and credit for our forces. But ours remains one of the largest and most capable in the region (BNEA). We received funding from Gulf Arab states because of our participation in the Gulf War..

Ours is a predominantly statist economy with an average growth rate that is slower than the 2.4% growth rate and this kept our per capita GDP going rolling down. Our recent laws allow private banks to operate in Syria, although it will take years for a private bank to develop government cooperation (Central Intelligence Agency 2004).

Our position in the U.S.-led coalition against Iraq and related factors are responsible for the fall of our GDP growth levels below 1% in 2003 after a 3.5% growth rate in 2001 and 4.5% in 2002. Our unchecked population growth, industrial expansion and increased water pollution levels also put pressure on our water supplies (BNEA).

We have a diversified economy that thrives on agriculture, industry and energy. In the 1960s, the government nationalized most of our major industries and adopted economic policies that addressed regional and class differences (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). Our domestic and international critics say that this form of state intervention and our price, trade, and foreign exchange control measures were responsible for our stunted economic growth. We do have a large number of poorly performing public sector firms, low investment levels and low industrial and agricultural productivity (BNEA) to account for our troubled economy. Almost 60% of our population is under age 20 and our actual unemployment rate is higher than the estimate of 20 to 25% and we are undertaking measures to respond to this situation (BNEA).

Our oil production has, however, come up to the challenge and recent agreements are likely to encourage foreign investment in our petroleum sector in two to three years (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). Our economic reforms have been incremental and gradual and privatization is not a foreseeable probability at this time. But our government has already started addressing structural defects in our economy, such as our lack of a modern financial sector, by installing required changes in our legal an regulatory structures (BNEA). We legalized private banking in 2001, so that four private banks began their operations this year. We also put into place a committee last August to supervise the establishment of a stock market. Our government likewise undertook major changes in our rental and tax laws and commercial codes that affect property rights.

We boast of traditional industries, such as weaving and fruit-packing and a modern heavy industry, but our policies in the 1960s to the 1980s prevented us from joining an increasingly interconnecting global economy (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). We, however, requested the World Trade Organization to begin the accession process. My country was an original contracting party of the initial General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade but we withdrew on account of Israel's inclusion. We are aware that elements of our trade rules must change to become consistent with those of the WTO and we intend to sign an association agreement with the European Union, which will require substantial trade liberalization (BNEA).

Prospects are high that my country will be able to reverse the downtrend of its current economy. Principally, our government has already redirected development priorities from industrial expansion into our agricultural sectors in order to achieve food self-sufficiency, improve export revenues and stop rural migration (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). Sustained capital investment, infrastructure development, subsides of inputs, and price supports have enabled our country to evolve from a net importer of agricultural products to an exporter of cotton, fruits, vegetables and other foods (BNEA). These were the consequences of our government investment in large irrigation systems in northern and northeastern parts of our county as part of an overall plan to increase the volume of our irrigated farmland by 38% in the next decade (BNEA).

We have laid much of our confidence on our capability to produce heavy-grade oil from our fields in the northeast since the late 1960s (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs 2004). Our discovery of light-grade and low-sulfur oil near Dayr az Zawr in our eastern side cancelled our need to import light oil for mixing with our heavy crude in our refineries. Since then, our oil production has been 535,000 barrels a day. Ours may be smaller when compared with the outputs of other Arab states, but our petroleum industry is still the major source of our export income. Our government has also initiated deals with international energy companies for the development of Syria's hugely potential gas reserves for both home use and export (BNEA). The American energy company, Conoco Phillips, for one, already completed installing a huge natural gas gathering and production facility in my country in the late 2000 and will continue to operate the plant till December 2005. We also forged exploration deals with Devon Energy and Gulfsands as well as a seismic survey contract with Veritas in 2003. These economic liberalization developments continue to offer much hope to our private sector (BNEA).