Subhi Bey Barakat

Subhi Bey Barakat al-Khalidi or Suphi Bereket (Arabic: صبحي بك بركات الخالدي‎ Turkish: Suphi Bereket; 1889, Antioch – 1939, Turkey) was a Syrian politician from Antakya,[3] born into a family of Turkish origin.[4] During the French Mandate of Syria, he was the president of the Syrian Federation from 29[5] June 1922 (the day following its creation) to 31 December 1924 and the State of Syria from 1 January 1925 to 21 December 1925).[3]

Subhi Bey Barakat al-Khalidi
صبحي بك بركات الخالدي
President of the Syrian Federation and the State of Syria under the French Mandate
In office 29[1] June 1922 – 21 December 1925
Preceded by	Faisal I (As King of Syria)
Succeeded by	Ahmad Nami
Personal details
Born	Suphi Bereket[2] 1889 Antakya, Ottoman Empire
Died	1939 (aged 49–50) Antakya, Turkey
Political party	Independent

Part of the reason the French supported his candidacy as president of the Syrian Federation was because as neither a native of Damascus nor a very strong Arabic speaker (Turkish was his mother tongue), he did not seem to pose a nationalist threat to French rule.[6]

Initially he was a partner of Ibrahim Hanano in his revolt. He played a major role in merging the States of Aleppo and Damascus into one state, and he quit the presidency of Syria in 1925 in protest to the French position regarding the fate of the Alawite and Druze States, which France refused to add to Syria because it feared that might endanger the independence of the newly created Lebanon.

Personal life

Barakat was married to Halide; their daughter Süheyla Mukbile married Turkish politician Refik Koraltan and Zehra married Turkish politician Vahit Melih Halefoğlu.[7][2]

See also

• French Mandate of Syria

References

1. ; .
2. Cıvaoğlu, Güneri (2016). "Aile ağacında DNA". Milliyet. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
3. Moubayed, Sami M. (2006). Steel & silk: men and women who shaped Syria 1900-2000. Bridge between the cultures series. Cune Press. pp. 200–202. ISBN 978-1-885942-40-1. Retrieved February 2012. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
4. Bidwell, Robin (1998), "Barakat, Subhi (c.1886-)", Dictionary Of Modern Arab History, Routledge, p. 68, ISBN 1136162917, BARAKAT, Subhi (c. 1886-) Syrian Head of State. He was born into a Turkish family in Antioch and was educated in the local secondary school.
5. Arrêtés Nos. 1, 2 & 3, Bulletin hebdomadaire des actes administratifs du Haut-Commissariat (8 October 1922), p. 268; .
6. Khoury, Philip (1987). Syria and the French Mandate: the Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920-1945. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 127.
7. "Vefat: Oğuzhan Koraltan". Hurriyet. Retrieved 18 December 2016.