مجموعة ١٥/٦ : "سوريا: الإدارة. مسألة عرض العرش على الملك فيصل ملك العراق". [و‎‎١‎٠‎٦] (٤٩٧/٢١١)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERT
/of
ANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
L 4
k 'I
EASTERN (Syria).
CONFIDENTIAL.
3350
1933
May 24, 1933.
Section 3.
[E 2719/120/89]
No. 1.
Acting Consul Todd to Sir John Simon.—(Received May 24.)
(No. 29.)
Sir, Damascus, May 4, 1933.
WITH reference to my despatch No. 28 of the 2nd instant, I have the honour
to inform you that the Cabinet was reconstituted yesterday under the presidency
of Hakki Bey-el-Azm.
2. The composition of the new Ministry is as follows :—
Hakki Bey-el-Azm: President of the Council and Minister of Interior.
Chaker Bey Chabani : Finance.
Yahia Bey Adali : Agriculture and Commerce.
Sheikh Suleiman Joukhadar : Justice.
Selim Bey Jambart: Public Works and Education.
3. It appears that Nassouh Bey-el-Boukhari accepted, and at the last
moment refused, the post of Minister of Public Instruction. He was formerly
Minister of Agriculture under Damad in 1926-27. The reason for his refusal
is not clear. He asked in vain for the Ministry of Finance. He was also
influenced in his decision by statements in the Nationalist press urging him not
to sever his family’s long connexion with the Nationalist cause by his joining the
new Cabinet.
4. The new Cabinet is composed entirely of moderate elements without
Nationalist participation. A separate Ministry has been created, i.e., the
Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. Its members are all Deputies with the
exception of Suleiman-el-Joukhadar. Chaker Bey Chabani comes in as Minister
of Finance in place of Jamil Mardam Bey. The former is a Constitutional
Liberal and Deputy for Aleppo. The new Minister of Agriculture and
Commerce, Yahia Bey Adali, is the Deputy for Antioche, a Liberal, and,
incidentally the oldest Deputy in the present Parliament. Suleiman-el-
Joukhadar is not a Deputy, and his acceptance of the post of Minister of Justice,
in place of the Nationalist Mazhar Pasha, represents his first incursion into the
political arena. He is a member of the Reform party, and was defeated at the
elections of 1932. He was formerly president of Court of Cassation. Selim
Jambart, a moderate of Aleppo, was also Minister of Public Works in the late
Cabinet. It was rumoured at the time of the resignation of Jamil Mardam Bey
and Mazhar Pasha Rislan that he had also sent in his resignation, but this report
proved to be unfounded. He thus becomes Minister of Public Works and
Education.
5. It is not yet known whether the Nationalist Deputies will attend the
next session of the Chamber on the 8th May.
6. The formation of the new Cabinet has met with a good deal of hostile
criticism on the part of Nationalist elements here, and various delegations waited
on the President of the Republic yesterday to urge him to abstain from forming
a Government until formal assurances had been obtained from the French
authorities on the subject of Syrian unity.
7. The present Government does not represent the feeling of the majority
of the population, and it is feared that it will negotiate a treaty with the French
involving the sacrifice of the principle of unity.
8. The bazaars were closed yesterday afternoon as a protest against the
formation of a pro-French Cabinet, as soon as its composition became known.
9. This solution of the ministerial crisis is probably the best that could be
found in the circumstances, but in view of the non-co-operation of the Nationalists
and even of their active hostility to the new Government, only the future can
show whether the Cabinet will be able to withstand the attacks of the Nationalists
when the Chamber meets.
10. I am sending copies of this despatch direct to His Majesty’s consul-
general at Beirut and His Majesty’s consul at Aleppo.
I have, &c.
FRANK H. TODD.
[795 aa—3]