Shukri al-Quwatli

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Shukri al-Quwatli (Arabic: شكري القوّتلي, romanized: Shukrī al-Quwwatlī; 6 May 1891 – 30 June 1967) was a Syrian politician and statesman who was the first president of post-independence Syria, in 1943. 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, following the Franco-Syrian War. 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. Quwatli utilized his connections with Saudi Arabia to help finance the Great Syrian Revolt (1925–1927). In 1930, the French authorities pardoned...

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