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Syria United Arab Republic
Seeing no way to preserve its position through domestic
maneuvering, the government turned to Egypt's President Gamal
Abdul Nasser for help. Discussions about a union between Syria
and Egypt had been held in 1956 but had been interrupted by the
Suez crisis. The subject was brought up again in December 1957,
when the Baath Party announced that it was drafting a bill for
union with Egypt. Although the Baath Party knew that Nasser's
declared hostility to political parties would mean the end of its
legal existence, it calculated that the group most affected would
be the Communists, whose counterparts in Egypt were being
ruthlessly persecuted. The Baathists expected Nasser to dissolve
all parties but envisaged a special role for themselves in the
new state because of their continued support of Nasser and their
identification with his views. For his part, Nasser was reluctant
to burden himself with a troubled Syria and agreed to the union
only after a Syrian delegation convinced him of the seriousness
of the communist threat. The union of Syria and Egypt in the
United Arab Republic (UAR) was announced on February 1, 1958, and
later ratified by a plebiscite in each country.
The form in which the UAR emerged was not what the Baathists
had envisioned. One of Nasser's conditions for union was that the
two countries be completely integrated, not just federated as the
Syrians proposed, and Syria soon found itself dominated by the
stronger, more efficient Egypt. The Provisional Constitution of
1958 called for a unitary cabinet and a 600-member assembly,
composed of 400 Egyptians and 200 Syrians, half of the members
being drawn from the then-existing national assemblies. Syria and
Egypt were designated regions of the UAR, each headed by an
appointed executive council. Nasser was unanimously chosen
president of the republic, and two of the four vice presidents
were Syrians, one of them Akram Hawrani, leader of the Baath
Party. The first cabinet included 14 Syrians out of 34 members,
all of them leading politicians and military figures whom Nasser
wanted removed from their bases of power. As expected, all
political parties were dissolved; but the Baathists did not find
themselves in the favored position they expected. The UAR was
completely run by Nasser.
Although a number of nationalization and land reform measures
had been implemented in Syria, Nasser felt that socialist reform
and integration with Egypt were moving too slowly and, in October
1959, appointed Egyptian Vice President Abdul Hakim Amir to
supervise policy in Syria. The Syrians, however, were
increasingly dissatisfied with Egypt's domination. Egyptians took
over a large number of the important administrative posts in
Syria, and Syrian army officers were transferred to Egypt while
Egyptians took posts in Syria. Growing political unrest in Syria
was exacerbated by an economic crisis brought about by prolonged
drought. Nasser made little apparent effort to placate Syrian
dissatisfaction and continued with his planned integration of the
UAR. On September 28, 1961, a military coup was staged in
Damascus, and Syria seceded from the UAR.
Data as of April 1987
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