INDEPENDENT ISLAMIC STATES

Syria

Official Name: Syrian Arab Republic (SY)

Capital city; : Damascus (Damascus)

Important Cities: Aleppo, Homs, Latakia, Hama, Qamishli, Raqqa, Hasakah. Deir ez-Zor.

Area: 185,180 km2

Population        : 18,300,000 (2021)[1]. 47% of the population lives in cities.

Ethnic Structure: 88% Arab, 6% Kurdish, 2.8% Armenian, 1% Turkish, 1% Greek. Assyrians, Chaldeans, Nestorians, Circassians and Jews make up the remaining population.

Language: Arabic is the official language of Syria. In addition, Kurdish, Turkish and other languages belonging to different ethnic groups are also spoken.

Religion: The state has no official religion. However, 76 per cent of the population is Sunni Muslim and 11 per cent Alevi. Nearly 10 per cent of the population is Christian. There is also about one per thousand Jews in Syria. In addition to these, there are also a small number of Yazidis.

Geographical Situation: Syria, an Asia Minor country, is surrounded by Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, Lebanon to the west and the Mediterranean Sea. Important rivers are Euphrates, Asi and Habur rivers. It is considered rich in terms of water resources. 33% of its land is suitable for agriculture and 10% of this land is irrigated. The Mediterranean climate prevails in the western parts and the continental climate prevails in the interior.

Mode of Government: Syria is formally a multi-party regime but in reality a Baathist dictatorship. The country is governed by a constitution that entered into force on 14 March 1973. The constitution grants broad powers to the head of state. The constitution authorises the president to appoint the prime minister and ministers, declare war, declare a state of emergency and grant a general amnesty. The constitution characterises the country's form of government as a 'socialist people's democracy'. Legislative power is vested in a 250-member parliament whose members are elected. However, the fact that the ruling Ba'ath Party has always had an overwhelming majority in parliament shows that the electoral system is not free from fraud.

International Organisations ABEDA, AFESD, AMF, CAEU, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC,[2] UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO. Membership of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has been suspended.

Political Parties: In Syria, the ruling Arab Socialist Baath Party (Hizb al-Ba'si'l-Arabi al-Ishtiraqi) holds the reins of power. This party, which has adopted the Ba'ath (resurrection) ideology, was founded in 1943 by Michel Aflaq, who was of Christian origin. The theoretician of the Baath ideology was Michel Aflaq. The Baath Party seized power in a military coup on 8 March 1963. However, rival factions within the party fought against each other in the following years. This struggle led to two coups in 1966 and 1970. The Syrian Baath Party, which emphasises centralised authority, is today dominated by people of Alawite origin. The political parties outside the Baath Party are merely symbolic parties established to complete the décor.

Administrative Division: 14 provinces divided into 59 districts.

History: Syria was conquered during the caliphate of Hazrat Umar (r.a.) in 634, 635 and 636 A.D. and was annexed to the Islamic lands. Syria, which remained under the rule of Umayyads, Abbasids and Egyptian rulers, Seljuks and Ayyubids respectively, was subjected to Mongol attacks between 1250-1303. The Syrian lands, which were later taken over by the Mamluks, were annexed to the Ottoman Empire by Yavuz Sultan Selim in 1517. In 1831, Syria fell into the hands of Mehmed Ali Pasha of Kavalalı, who rebelled against the Ottomans and established a separate administration in Egypt. After a popular uprising in 1840, it was reunited with the Ottoman Empire. It was occupied by the French in 1920. Although the people opposed the occupation, the French suppressed the popular uprisings by killing tens of thousands of people and bombing major cities. However, the resistance of the people against the occupation continued. The French were forced to withdraw from Syria in 1943 and recognise the independence of this country on 1 January 1944. However, they left behind a layer of bureaucrats whom they raised with their own hands, who would protect their own system and maintain the system they had established. This layer of bureaucrats took over the administration of the country after independence with the help of various tricks of the French occupiers. The first post-independence president of Syria was Shukri al-Quwatli, who was of Turkish origin. al-Quwatli's rule was ended with a coup d'état in 1949. Post-independence Syria became a country of coups. Different coups took place in 1949, 1954, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966 and 1970. After the 1949 coup, Husni Zaim took the presidency. After him, Sami Hinnavi, Edib Çiçekli, Hashim Bey el-Attasi and Shukri el-Kuvvetli served as president respectively. Between 1955 and 58, Syria and Egypt united to form the United Arab Republic. During this period, the head of state of the United Arab Republic was the then Egyptian President Gamal Abdel-Nasser. After the breakdown of the Syrian-Egyptian union, the Syrian President was Nazim al-Qudsi. In 1963, a coup d'état led by General Hafez al-Amin enabled the Ba'ath Party to take power. The 1966 coup d'état was a victory for the independent military wing of Ba'ath. After this coup, Nuruddin al-Attasi took over the country. During the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Alawite Hafez al-Assad, who was the commander of Syria's air force and defence minister, attempted a coup in 1968, but failed. However, Assad took over the government with a coup d'état on 23 November 1970. After Assad's coup, the Alawites within the Baath Party began to purge the others. The country remained under the rule of Hafez al-Assad from 1970 until his death. Assad, who entered into a close friendship with the Soviet Union after he came to power, received continuous support from the Soviets until its dissolution. Assad did not neglect to favour the interests of the USA and the West in his policies. A document indicating that he was in secret relations with Jewish organisations in the USA was published in the Sudanese newspaper Kabas on 1 July 1988. When the Baathists took over the government in Syria, a period of heavy persecution and oppression began on Muslims. Assad increased this persecution and oppression even more. During his rule, a large number of Muslims were imprisoned and subjected to all kinds of torture. Some of the methods of torture used in prisons after his coming to power were as follows: Impalement, scalding with boiling water, hanging from the ceiling by the feet, beating until death, rape of Muslim women in prison, rape of wives, daughters and sisters of prisoners. These are just a few of the atrocities committed. In some prisons, prisoners were killed en masse. For example, 120 women in Resten prison and 700 people in Tedmur prison were killed in this way. One of the biggest murders committed by Assad is the Hama massacre. Hama is one of the cities where the Islamic movement is the strongest. Because of this feature, Hama city witnessed a great massacre in 1982. Assad's brother and then chief of staff, Rifaat Assad, launched an air and ground attack on Hama one night in February 1982. Most of the soldiers who refused to participate in the attack were executed immediately. Some of them defected to the Muslim side. About forty thousand Muslims were martyred in the Hama massacre that continued for several days. The city turned into a ruin. After the death of Hafez al-Assad, his son Bashar al-Assad was appointed as president. His son Bashar also continued his father's practices. In 2010, the Syrian civil war started. Terrorist organisations supported by the USA and Russia divided the Syrian territory. Against this, local forces, called FSA, formed an army and fought for the country. PYD/YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorist organisations, which settled in their territories, attacked settlements on the border with Turkey. However, with the operations carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces abroad, they were driven 30 kilometres inside the border and a security corridor was created along the border.[3]

External Problems: Israel, which occupied the Palestinian territories, also occupied Syria's Golan Heights in the 1967 war. Syria has a problem with Israel arising from this occupation. Syria wants the Golan Heights back from Israel. The axis of Syria's dispute with Turkey is the Hatay issue. Syria constantly claims its rights over Hatay and raises this issue at every opportunity. Even in the textbooks taught in Syria, Hatay is shown as a province of Syria. Another problem Syria has with Turkey stems from the South-Eastern Anatolia Project (GAP). With the implementation of this project, Syria brought the water issue to the agenda with the claim that the water resources feeding its territory would decrease. Upon Syria's raising the water issue, Turkey proposed to put into practice a project called the Small Water Project, which would allow the waters of the Seyhan and Ceyhan rivers to flow into Syrian territory through a pipeline. Although Syria is ruled by the Baathist ideology, it is also at odds with its neighbour Iraq. Due to this disagreement, Syria supported Iran in the Iran-Iraq War. In the Gulf War, Syria took part in the front against Iraq. Syria intervened militarily in Lebanon in 1976.

Internal problems: Syria's most important internal problem is the repression of Islamic communities in the country. Another problem is the problem arising from the fact that the opposition forces have shifted their activities underground due to the Baathist dictatorship in the country. The dominance of the Alawite minority in the government also causes unrest.

Islamism in the country: Syria has a rich Islamic heritage. In the past, many Muslim scholars were raised in these lands and they shed light on the Islamic world with their scientific studies. The struggle of Islam against the regime in Syria started in 1941 with Dr Mustafa al-Sibai. Mustafa al-Sibai had very close relations with Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, and he formed the Syrian branch of this organisation. Before the formation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, Islamic activities were carried out through various social welfare organisations. Dr al-Sibai gathered these societies under the umbrella of the Muslim Brotherhood through his activities in 1945 and 1946. al-Sibai was appointed as the general supervisor of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in 1946 and held this position until 1957. In 1957, when al-Sibai's health deteriorated, Isam al-Attar was appointed as the general supervisor of the Brotherhood. Isam al-Attar held this position until 1970, despite heavy pressure and his exile in 1963. In 1970, there was a leadership crisis within the community. This crisis was also caused by the fact that Isam al-Attar was in exile and had to manage the community through his representatives. Upon this crisis, the community split into two groups and there were breakaways from the community. Despite the mediation efforts, the separation and disputes could not be resolved until the 1980s. In 1980, the Islamic communities in Syria came together again and formed the Islamic Front. The Muslim Brotherhood formed the base of this front. However, it also included most of the other Islamic groups in the country. Muhammad Abu al-Nasr al-Bayanouni, Adnan Sa'duddin and Said Hawwa were instrumental in the formation of the Front. They later became the leaders of the Front and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. After the 1982 Hama massacre, the disagreements that emerged led to splits again. As a result of these splits, Isam al-Attar and the people around Adnan Sa'duddin emerged as a separate community. After the splits, Abdulfettah Abu Gudde was appointed as the general supervisor of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1993, a unity was re-established between the groups that split from the Muslim Brotherhood. After this unification, Hassan Huwaydi was appointed as the general supervisor of the Brotherhood. Adnan Sa'duddin, on the other hand, assumed the general secretariat of the common front formed by all the groups fighting against the regime in the country. Today, the Muslim Brotherhood is the largest of the communities that continue the Islamic struggle in Syria. In addition to this, Salafis are also effective. However, Salafis concentrate on theological and practical issues rather than political and state-oriented activities. The current administration in Syria exerts a heavy pressure on the Islamic Movement.

Economy: Syria's economy is mainly based on agriculture and animal husbandry. The share of income from agricultural products in the gross domestic product is 27%. 26% of the working population is employed in agriculture. The most produced agricultural products are cereals, cotton, sugar beet and tobacco. Although Syria is rich in rivers and has a coast to the Mediterranean Sea, fishing is not good. Oil, which contributes significantly to the Syrian economy, is mostly extracted by US companies. The share of oil and natural gas in the gross domestic product is 14%. In addition, minerals such as phosphate, iron and asphaltite are also mined. Syria receives foreign aid to develop its agriculture and industry. In the past, Syria received aid mostly from oil-producing Arab countries and the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Syria increased its relations with Western countries and started to receive aid from these countries as well. The 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli wars and the conflicts arising from Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 had a significant impact on the Syrian economy. However, it was able to recover in the following years with the help of other Arab countries. However, due to the Israeli threat, the Syrian government felt the necessity to focus on military expenditures and armament. This need placed a heavy burden on the country's economy.

Currency: Syrian Lira.

National Income per Capita: 602 USD[4].

Foreign trade: The main exports are crude oil (60% of export revenue), phosphates, cotton, cotton yarn and textiles, canned food, dried food, tobacco, cereals, vegetables and fruits. The main imports are petroleum products (30% of import expenditure), transport equipment, defence equipment, machinery, electrical and electronic equipment, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, lubricants and chemical products. Besides the Arab countries, foreign trade is mainly with the USA, Russia, France, Japan, Italy, Greece, Spain, Iran and Romania. In 1990, export revenues exceeded import expenditure by about 900 million dollars.

Industry: Some branches of light industry have been developed in Syria. The most common branches of industry are as follows: Textile, garment and leather processing (industrial enterprises in these three sectors account for 30% of all industrial enterprises), sugar, food, beverage and cigarette production (enterprises related to these sectors account for 24% of all industrial enterprises), woodworking, furniture production, paper production, chemical and paint production, durable consumer goods production, cement and other construction materials production, metal and earthenware, mechanical machinery, office equipment and electrical equipment production. Since its heavy industry is underdeveloped, it imports petroleum products even though it sells crude oil to abroad. Since the country is dominated by a socialist administration, the state sector is emphasised. Therefore, a significant part of the industrial enterprises and banks are in the hands of the state. In addition, with the opening of the economy to the West in recent years, the private sector has started to be emphasised. The share of industry in gross domestic product is 6 per cent. About 14 per cent of the working population is employed in the industrial sector.

Energy: In 1991, Syria produced 12 billion 179 million kW/h of electricity. Electricity consumption in the same year is equal to this figure. 49 per cent of electricity is obtained from thermal power plants and 51 per cent from hydroelectric power plants. Annual electricity consumption per capita is 951 kw/hour.

Transport: There is an international airport in the capital city of Damascus and a domestic airport in the other four major cities. Exports and imports by sea are carried out from Latakia port. There are 31.600 km of roads, 24.400 km of which are asphalted, and 2050 km of railways. In this country, there is one motorised transport vehicle for 46 people.

Education: In Syria, primary education, which starts at the age of 6 and lasts for six years, is free and compulsory. There are 9,550 primary schools, 2,100 general secondary education institutions and 240 vocational secondary education institutions. 98 per cent of primary school children and 45 per cent of secondary school children benefit from this education. There are 44 higher education institutions, including 5 universities. Study outside the country is also encouraged. Only 20 per cent of young people of university age can enrol in higher education institutions. The rate of literacy is 80 per cent. Minorities other than Armenians do not have the right to open private schools.

[1]    www.ticaret.gov.tr(Accessed November-2021)

[2]     www.oic-oci.org

[3]    www.enfal.de(November-2021 Access)

[4]  www.ticaret.gov.tr(November-2021 Access)