page_title: Shukri al-Quwatli
section_title: Adoption of neutralism
hierarchical_section_title: Shukri al-Quwatli / Third presidential term / Adoption of neutralism
caption_attribution_description: President Shukri al-Quwatli signing a defense agreement with Gamal Abd al-Nasser of Egypt and King Saud in Egypt on March 13, 1956. The agreement said that Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia (The Big Three), would safeguard Arab security and defend the Arab World against Zionist aggression. http://www.syrianhistory.com/tst.php?table=six&amp;start=60 Photo prise avec l'autorisation du webmaster du site, http://www.syrianhistory.com/
context_page_description: Shukri al-Quwatli was the first president of post-independence Syria. He began his career as a dissident working towards the independence and unity of the Ottoman Empire's Arab territories and was consequently imprisoned and tortured for his activism. When the Kingdom of Syria was established, Quwatli became a government official, though he was disillusioned with monarchism and co-founded the republican Independence Party. Quwatli was immediately sentenced to death by the French who took control over Syria in 1920. Afterward, he based himself in Cairo where he served as the chief ambassador of the Syrian-Palestinian Congress, cultivating particularly strong ties with Saudi Arabia. He used these connections to help finance the Great Syrian Revolt. In 1930, the French authorities pardoned Quwatli and thereafter, he returned to Syria, where he gradually became a principal leader of the National Bloc. He was elected president of Syria in 1943 and oversaw the country's independence three years later.
  Quwatli was reelected in 1948, but was toppled in a military coup in 1949.
context_section_description: Under Quwatli's leadership, Syria increasingly moved towards a neutralist policy amid the Cold War, despite the conservative views held by Quwatli. However, on 10 September, Quwatli first opted to make an official request for arms from the United States, but was eventually rebuffed despite support from US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Starting in 1956, Quwatli began to look towards the Eastern bloc for economic and military assistance. During the tenure of his administration, Quwatli furthered Syria's relations with other neutralist countries such as Yugoslavia, India and Egypt, but also with the Soviet Union (USSR) and the Eastern bloc. The pursuit of this policy was partially due to the support afforded to the leftist movements in Syria by the Saudi and Egyptian governments who viewed them as strong opponents of the Baghdad Pact, and the highly influential leftist factions of the Syrian Army. Quwatli and Nasser initiated the Egyptian-Syrian Agreement, a defense arrangement that would serve as a counterweight to the Baghdad Pact, in March 1955. The agreement stipulated that each country would assist the other in case of an attack, the establishment of numerous committees to coordinate joint military activities and the creation of a joint military command headed by Egyptian officer Abdel Hakim Amer. The agreement was concluded 20 October.
  Increasingly concerned at the growing leftist trend in the country, Quwatli called for a national unity government that would include parties from across the political spectrum on 15 February 1956. Despite opposition from the Ba'athists, Quwatli managed to preside over a "national covenant" which entailed a foreign policy of opposition to Zionism and imperialism as well as the adoption of neutralism amid the Cold War. Nonetheless, and against Quwatli's advice, Ghazzi resigned from his post in June 1956 as a result of pressure from the Ba'athists and the communists who had been leading protests against Ghazzi's decision to lift the ban on wheat sales to Western Europe. Faced with few options, Quwatli reappointed Asali as Prime Minister. Asali moved to further strengthen ties with Egypt, including a pledge to start unity talks, and appointed Ba'athists to the ministerial positions of economy and foreign affairs.
  Following the tripartite invasion of the Sinai Peninsula and the Suez Canal by British, French and Israeli forces in October 1956, Quwatli severed ties with Britain. Quwatli sent hundreds of army recruits to aid the Egyptian defense and made an emergency visit to Moscow to request Soviet backing for Nasser from Premier Nikita Khrushchev, telling the latter that the tripartite forces "want to destroy Egypt!" In response to public pressure, in late December Prime Minister Asali reshuffled his cabinet, removing several fellow conservatives and strengthening leftist influence in the government.
caption: Quwatli (left) with President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt (right) and King Saud of Saudi Arabia (center) concluding a defense agreement between the three countries, 1956
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