Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali

Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali (Arabic: عبد الرحمن الكيالي‎) (1887 – 13 September 1969) was a physician from the city of Aleppo and member of the Syrian independence movement who became the Minister of Justice for two terms.

Not to be confused with Abd Al-Rahman Al-Gillani.
Abd al-Rahman al-Kayyali
عبد الرحمن الكيالي
Minister of Justice
In office
21 December 1936 – 18 February 1939
Preceded bySaid al-Ghazzi
Succeeded byNasib al-Bakri
In office
19 August 1943 – 5 April 1945
Preceded byFaydi al-Atasi
Succeeded bySaid al-Ghazzi
Personal details
Born1887
Aleppo, Ottoman Syria
DiedSeptember 13, 1969(1969-09-13) (aged 81–82)
Aleppo, Syria

Biography

Born in Aleppo, al-Kayyali studied medicine at the Lebanese American University and graduated in 1914.[1] Upon the emergence of WWI, he served as a medic in the Ottoman Army in Al-Hamraa, Hama Governorate.

In 1919, al-Kayyali was among the founders of the Arab Club of Aleppo, a political salon and society that promoted Aleppine regionalism and Arab nationalism in Syria against the French rule during the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon.[2]

Later on, he joined the National Bloc, in which he became a member of Parliament in 1928, 1936 and 1943. In the meantime, he served as the Minister of Justice during the premiership of Jamil Mardam Bey, Saadallah al-Jabiri and Faris al-Khoury, [3] from 1936 to 1939 and from 1943 to 1945.

Al-Kayyali also served as a diplomat for Syria. After the formal independence of Syria following the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence in September 1936, he was appointed non-resident ambassador to the League of Nations by president Hashim al-Atassi, a position he quit after his nomination as a cabinet member in December 1936. From 1947 to 1949 he represented the Syrian Republic as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.[4]

Al-Kayyali died on 13 September 1969.

Legacy

As a representative of the Aleppan bourgeoisie and a nationalist activist, al-Kayyali built strong ties with leaders of Syria's first indepence movement, including Ibrahim Hananu, leader of the so-called Hananu Revolt against French rule. Kayyali can be considered one of the most prestigious citizens of Aleppo of his time and a Western educated proponent of anti-colonial nationalist ideology. [5]

One of al-Kayyali's grandsons, the dentist Mustafa Kayali (or Al-Kayyali), emerged as a prominent civil society activist during the Syrian uprising and was, according to media reports, among the authors of a document known as the "Code of Conduct for Syrian Coexistence" in 2017, endorsed by various Syrian community leaders.[6]

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References
  1. مثقفون سياسيون سوريون ليبراليون بمنتصف القرن العشرين. alaraby.co.uk (in Arabic). 15 January 2018.
  2. Khoury, Philip Shukry (1987). Syria and the French Mandate: The Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920-1945. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 106.
  3. White, Benjamin Thomas (2012-09-11). Emergence of Minorities in the Middle East. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748688937.
  4. Moubayed, Sami (2018). The Makers Of Modern Syria. I.B. Tauris. doi:10.5040/9781350988880. ISBN 978-1-78673-455-6.
  5. Gelvin, James L. (1951). Divided Loyalties: Nationalism and Mass Politics in Syria at the Close of Empire. Los Angeles / Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 85–86.
  6. Team, ICSR (2018-01-18). "Syria's Best of Enemies Breaking Good". ICSR. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
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