| Al-Jumhuriya al-`Arabiya as-Suriya (Arabic) | |||||
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| National motto: None | |||||
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| Official language | Arabic | ||||
| Spoken languages | Arabic, Armenian, Kurdish, Aramaic, Adyghe, Turkish | ||||
| Capital | Damascus 33°30' N 36°18' E | ||||
| President | Bashar al-Assad | ||||
| Prime Minister | Muhammad Naji al-Otari | ||||
| Area - Total - % water | Ranked 87th 185,180 km˛ 0.06% | ||||
| Population - Total (2005) - Density | Ranked 55th 18,448,752 100/km˛ (76th) | ||||
| Independence - Declared - Recognition | From Vichy France - January 1 1944 - April 17 1946 | ||||
| GDP | Per capita: $1,378 (2003 est.), ranked 112th | ||||
| Currency | Syrian pound | ||||
| Time zone | UTC +2 | ||||
| National anthem | Homat el Diyar | ||||
| Internet TLD | .sy | ||||
| Calling Code | 963 | ||||
Archaeologists have demonstrated that Syria was the center of one of the most ancient civilizations on earth. Around the excavated city of Ebla in north-eastern Syria, discovered in 1975, a great Semitic empire spread from the Red Sea north to Turkey and east to Mesopotamia from 2500 to 2400 B.C. The city of Ebla alone during that time had a population estimated at 260,000. Scholars believe the language of Ebla to be the oldest Semitic language. Other notable cities excavated include Mari, Ugarit and Dura Europos.
Syria was occupied successively by Canaanites, Hebrews, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Nabataeans, Byzantines, Arabs, and, in part, Crusaders before finally coming under the control of the Ottoman Turks. Syria is significant in the history of Christianity; Paul was converted on the road to Damascus and established the first organized Christian Church at Antioch in ancient Syria, from which he left on many of his missionary journeys.
Damascus, the city that has been inhabited as early as 8,000 to 10,000 BC is known to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. It came under Muslim rule in A.D. 636. Immediately thereafter, the city's power and prestige reached its peak, and it became the capital of the Omayyad Empire, which extended from Spain to the borders of China from A.D. 661 to A.D. 750, when the Abbasid caliphate was established at Baghdad, Iraq.
Damascus became a provincial capital of the Mameluke Empire around 1260. It was largely destroyed in 1400 by Tamerlane, the Mongol conqueror, who removed many of its craftsmen to Samarkand. Rebuilt, it continued to serve as a capital until 1516. In 1517, it fell under Ottoman rule. The Ottomans remained for the next 400 years, except for a brief occupation by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt from 1832 to 1840.
With the fall of France in 1940, Syria came under the control of the Vichy Government until the United Kingdom and Free French occupied the country in July 1941. Continuing pressure from Syrian nationalist groups forced the French to evacuate their troops in April 1946, leaving the country in the hands of a republican government that had been formed during the mandate.
Syria's political instability during the years after the 1954 coup, the parallelism of Syrian and Egyptian policies, and the appeal of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's leadership in the wake of the 1956 Suez Crisis created support in Syria for union with Egypt. On February 1, 1958, the two countries merged to create the United Arab Republic, and all Syrian political parties ceased overt activities.
The union was not a success, however. Following a military coup on September 28, 1961, Syria seceded, reestablishing itself as the Syrian Arab Republic. Instability characterized the next 18 months, with various coups culminating on March 8, 1963, in the installation by leftist Syrian Army officers of the National Council of the Revolutionary Command (NCRC), a group of military and civilian officials who assumed control of all executive and legislative authority. The takeover was engineered by members of the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party (Ba'ath Party), which had been active in Syria and other Arab countries since the late 1940s. The new cabinet was dominated by Ba'ath members.
The Ba'ath takeover in Syria followed a Ba'ath coup in Iraq the previous month. The new Syrian Government explored the possibility of federation with Egypt and Ba'ath-controlled Iraq. An agreement was concluded in Cairo on April 17, 1963, for a referendum on unity to be held in September 1963. However, serious disagreements among the parties soon developed, and the tripartite federation failed to materialize. Thereafter, the Ba'ath regimes in Syria and Iraq began to work for bilateral unity. These plans floundered in November 1963, when the Ba'ath regime in Iraq was overthrown. In May 1964, President Amin Hafiz of the NCRC promulgated a provisional constitution providing for a National Council of the Revolution (NCR), an appointed legislature composed of representatives of mass organizations -labor, peasant, and professional unions-, a presidential council, in which executive power was vested, and a cabinet. On February 23, 1966, a group of army officers carried out a successful, intra-party coup, imprisoned President Hafiz, dissolved the cabinet and the NCR, abrogated the provisional constitution, and designated a regionalist, civilian Ba'ath government. The coup leaders described it as a "rectification" of Ba'ath Party principles. The defeat of the Syrians and Egyptians in the June 1967 war with Israel weakened the radical socialist regime established by the 1966 coup. Conflict developed between a moderate military wing and a more extremist civilian wing of the Ba'ath Party. The 1970 retreat of Syrian forces sent to aid the PLO during the "Black September" hostilities with Jordan reflected this political disagreement within the ruling Ba'ath leadership. On November 13, 1970, Minister of Defense Hafiz al-Asad affected a bloodless military coup, ousting the civilian party leadership and assuming the role of prime minister.
In early 1976, the Lebanese Civil War was going poorly for the Maronite Christians. Syria sent 40,000 troops into the country to prevent them from being overrun, but soon became embroiled in the Lebanese Civil War. The troops then remained for the next 30 years, initially they were supported by the Arab League and even the U.S, in what some have described as a de facto-Occupation of Lebanon. 1.5 million Syrian workers came into Lebanon after the war ended to find jobs in the reconstruction of the country. Syrian workers were preferred over Palestinian and Lebanese workers because they could be paid lower wages. While the presence of the Syrian workers in Lebanon remains controversial, the strong economical interdependence of the two nations mean that most workers have stayed after the tumultous Syrian army retreat in 2005.
The authoritarian regime was not without its critics, though most were quickly dealt with. A serious challenge arose in the late 1970s, however, from fundamentalist Sunni Muslims, who reject the basic values of the secular Ba'ath program and object to rule by the Alawis, whom they consider heretical. From 1976 until its suppression in 1982, the archconservative Muslim Brotherhood led an armed insurgency against the regime. In response to an attempted uprising by the brotherhood in February 1982, the government crushed the fundamentalist opposition centered in the city of Hama, leveling parts of the city with artillery fire and causing many thousands of dead and wounded. Since then, public manifestations of anti-regime activity have been very limited. A challenge from within the regime came in 1984, when Hafez was hospitalized after a heart attack. His brother Rifaat then attempted to seize power using internal security forces under his control. Despite his poor health, Hafez managed to assert control and sent Rifaat into exile.
Syria's 1991 participation in the U.S.-led multinational coalition aligned against Saddam Hussein marked a dramatic watershed in Syria's relations both with other Arab states and with the West. Syria participated in the multilateral Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid in October 1991, and during the 1990s engaged in direct, face-to-face negotiations with Israel. These negotiations failed, and there have been no further Syrian-Israeli talks since President Hafez Al-Asad's meeting with then President Bill Clinton in Geneva in March 2000.
Hafiz Al-Asad died on June 10, 2000, after 30 years in power. Within a few hours following Al-Asad's death, the Parliament amended the constitution, reducing the mandatory minimum age of the President from 40 to 34 years old, which allowed his son, Bashar al-Assad legally to be eligible for nomination by the ruling Ba'ath party. On July 10, 2000, Bashar Al-Asad was elected President by referendum in which he ran unopposed, supposedly garnering 97.29% of the vote.
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Syrian government began limited cooperation with U.S. in the global war against terrorism. However, Syria opposed the Iraq War in March 2003, and bilateral relations with the U.S. swiftly deteriorated. In December 2003, President George W. Bush signed into law the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, which provided for the imposition of a series of Sanctions against Syria if Syria did not end its support for Palestinian terrorist groups, end its military and security presence in Lebanon, cease its pursuit of Weapons of mass destruction, and meet its obligations under US interpretation of United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq. In May 2004, the President determined that Syria had not met these conditions and implemented sanctions that prohibit the export to Syria of items on the U.S. Munitions List and Commerce Control List, the export to Syria of U.S. products except for food and medicine, and the taking off from or landing in the United States of Syrian government-owned aircraft. At the same time, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced its intention to order U.S. financial institutions to sever correspondent accounts with the Commercial Bank of Syria based on money-laundering concerns, pursuant to Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act. Acting under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the President also authorized the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to freeze assets belonging to certain Syrian individuals and government entities.
The European Union uses a method to bring about change in Syria that can be likened to Soft power, using neither military nor economic force. Now that there is a good chance that Turkey will join the EU, Syria would border the EU. At present it can not join as a full member, but economic treaties are possible. However, for these, the EU has certain requirements, which would necessitate changes to take place, most notably in the fields of Democracy and Human rights. At the moment there are negotiations on an Association Agreement, which would liberalize mutual trade. Syria is required to make certain political and economic reforms in order for this process to come into effect.
Bowing to Lebanese popular pressure that was manifested in the so-called Cedar Revolution, Syria withdrew from Lebanon on April 26, 2005. As UN investigations (the FitzGerald Report and the Mehlis report) implicated Syrian officials in the Hariri slaying, the Assad regime entered a turbulent period, the seriousness of the crisis signalled by the death of interior minister Ghazi Kanaan, as well as Western threats of economic sanctions.
| Politics of Syria |
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[image] Main article: Politics of Syria
Officially, Syria is a Republic. In reality, however, it is an authoritarian regime that exhibits only the forms of a democratic system. Although citizens ostensibly vote for the President and members of Parliament, they do not have the right to change their government. The late President Hafiz Al-Asad was confirmed by unopposed referenda five times. His son, Bashar Al-Asad, also was confirmed by an unopposed referendum in July 2000. The Asad regime has held power since 1970, when it took control over the already Baath-run government in a coup labeled The Corrective Revolution. Assad's regime's survival is due partly to a strong desire for stability and the regime's success in giving groups such as religious minorities and peasant farmers a stake in society. The expansion of the government bureaucracy has also created a large class loyal to the regime. The President's continuing strength is due also to the army's continued loyalty and the overbearing presence of Syria's large and ruthless internal security apparatus. Another important factor is Nationalism, with the Syrians rallying around the regime to counter what they perceive as American, Israeli and (during the Saddam Hussein years) Iraqi aggression. Also, many critics of the regime still have hopes for more wide-ranging political reform under the younger al-Asad, but despite government propaganda encouraging these tendencies, it remains uncertain if he is willing or capable to deliver on his promises.
All three branches of government are guided by the views of the Ba'ath Party, whose primacy in state institutions is assured by the constitution. In addition, six other political parties are permitted to exist and, along with the Ba'ath Party, make up the National Progressive Front (NPF), a grouping of parties that represents the sole framework of legal political party participation for citizens. While created ostensibly to give the appearance of a multi-party system, the NPF is dominated by the Ba'ath Party and does not change the essentially one-party character of the political system. The Ba'ath Party dominates the Parliament, which is known as the People's Council. Elected every 4 years, the Council has no independent authority. Although parliamentarians may criticize policies and modify draft laws, they cannot initiate laws, and the executive branch retains ultimate control over the legislative process.
There was a surge of interest in political reform after Bashar al-Asad assumed power in 2000. Human rights activists and other civil society advocates, as well as some Parliamentarians, became more outspoken during a period referred to as "Damascus Spring" (July 2000-February 2001).
Syria has fourteen governorates, or muhafazat (singular: Muhafazah). A governor, whose appointment is proposed by the minister of the interior, approved by the cabinet, and announced by executive decree, heads each governorate. The governor is assisted by an elected provincial council.
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Main article: Geography of Syria
Syria consists mostly of arid plateau, although the northwest part of the country bordering the Mediterranean is fairly green. The Euphrates, Syria's most important river, crosses the country in the east. It is considered to be one of the fifteen states that comprise the so-called "Cradle of Humanity".
Major cities include the capital Damascus in the southwest, Aleppo in the north, and Homs. Most of the other important cities are located along the coast line. (See also List of cities in Syria.)
The climate in Syria is dry and hot, although winters are mild. Because of the country's elevation, snowfall does also occur occasionally during winter.
Syria is a middle-income, developing country with a diversified Economy based on Agriculture, Industry, and Energy. During the 1960s, citing its state socialist Ideology, the government nationalized most major enterprises and adopted economic policies designed to address regional and class disparities. This legacy of state intervention and price, trade, and foreign exchange controls still hampers economic growth, although the government has begun to revisit many of these policies, especially vis-ŕ-vis the financial sector and the country's trade regime. Despite a number of significant reforms and ambitious development projects of the early 1990s, as well as more modest reform efforts currently underway, Syria's economy still is slowed by large numbers of poorly performing Public sector firms, low Investment levels, and relatively low industrial and agricultural Productivity.
Despite the mitigation of the severe Drought that plagued the region in the late 1990s and the recovery of energy export revenues, Syria's economy faces serious challenges. With almost 60% of its population under the age of 20, Unemployment higher than the current estimated range of 20%-25% is a real possibility unless sustained and strong economic growth takes off. Oil production has levelled off, but recent agreements allowing increased foreign investment in the petroleum sector may boost production in two to three years.
Taken as a whole, Syrian economic reform thus far has been incremental and gradual, with Privatization not even on the distant horizon. The government, however, has begun to address structural deficiencies in the economy such as the lack of a modern financial sector through changes to the legal and regulatory environment. In 2001, Syria legalized private banking. In 2004, four private banks began operations. In August 2004, a committee was formed to supervise the establishment of a Stock market. Beyond the financial sector, the Syrian Government has enacted major changes to and tax laws, and is reportedly considering similar changes to the commercial code and to other laws, which impact property rights.
Commerce has always been important to the Syrian economy, which benefited from the country's location along major east-west trade routes. Syrian cities boast both traditional industries such as Weaving and dried-fruit packing and modern Heavy industry. Given the policies adopted from the 1960s through the late 1980s, Syria failed to join an increasingly interconnected global economy. In late 2001, however, Syria submitted a request to the World Trade Organization to begin the accession process. Syria had been an original contracting party of the former General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade but withdrew in 1951 because of Israel's joining. Major elements of current Syrian trade rules would have to change in order to be consistent with the WTO. Syria is intent on signing an Association Agreement with the European Union that would entail significant trade liberalization.
The bulk of Syrian imports have been raw materials essential for industry, agriculture, equipment, and machinery. Major exports include crude oil, refined products, raw cotton, Clothing, fruits, and Cereal grains. Earnings from oil exports are one of the government's most important sources of foreign exchange.
Of Syria's 72,000 square miles (186,000 km˛), roughly one-third is arable, with 80% of cultivated areas dependent on rainfall for Water. In recent years, the agriculture sector has recovered from years of government inattentiveness and drought. Most farms are privately owned, but the government controls important elements of marketing and transportation.
The government has redirected its economic development priorities from industrial expansion into the agricultural sectors in order to achieve food self-sufficiency, enhance export earnings, and stem rural Migration. Thanks to sustained capital investment, infrastructure development, subsidies of inputs, and price supports, Syria has gone from a net importer of many agricultural products to an exporter of cotton, fruits, vegetables, and other foodstuffs. One of the prime reasons for this turnaround has been the government's investment in huge Irrigation systems in northern and northeastern Syria, part of a plan to increase irrigated farmland by 38% over the next decade.
Syria has produced heavy-grade oil from fields located in the northeast since the late 1960s. In the early 1980s, light-grade, low-sulphur oil was discovered near Dayr az Zawr in eastern Syria. This discovery relieved Syria of the need to import light oil to mix with domestic heavy crude in refineries. Recently, Syrian oil production has been about 530,000 barrels per day. Although its oil reserves are small compared to those of many other Arab states, Syria's petroleum industry accounts for a majority of the country's export income. The government has successfully begun to work with international energy companies to develop Syria's promising natural gas reserves, both for domestic use and export. U.S. energy firm, ConocoPhillips, completed a large Natural gas gathering and production facility for Syria in late 2000, and will continue to serve as operator of the plant until December 2005. In 2003, Syria experienced some success in attracting U.S. Petroleum companies, signing an exploration deal with partners Devon Energy and Gulfsands and a seismic survey contract with Veritas.
Ad hoc economic Liberalization continues to provide hope to Syria's Private sector. In 1990, the government established an official parallel Exchange rate (neighboring country rate) to provide incentives for remittances and exports through official channels. This action improved the supply of basic commodities and contained inflation by removing risk premiums on smuggled commodities.
Over time, the government has increased the number of transactions to which the more favorable neighboring country exchange rate applies. The government also introduced a quasi-rate for non-commercial transactions in 2001 broadly in line with prevailing Black market rates. Exchange-rate unification remains an elusive goal as pressure is building for Syria to harmonize its exchange rate system.
Given the poor development of its own capital markets and Syria's lack of access to international money and capital markets, monetary policy remains captive to the need to cover the fiscal deficit. Although in 2003 Syria lowered interest rates for the first time in 22 years and again in 2004, rates remain fixed by law. In a positive move in 2003, Syria canceled an old and troublesome law governing foreign currency exchange; however, new regulations have yet to be implemented. Some basic commodities continue to be heavily subsidized, and social services are provided for nominal charges.
Syria has made progress in easing its heavy foreign debt burden through bilateral rescheduling deals with virtually all of its key creditors in Europe. In May 2005, Russia and Syria signed a deal that wrote off nearly three-quarters of Syria's debt to Russia, approximately €10.5 billion ($13 billion). The agreement left Syria with less than €3 billion (just over $3.6 billion) owed to Moscow. Half of it would be repaid over the next 10 years, while the rest would be paid into Russian accounts in Syrian banks and could be used for Russian investment projects in Syria and for buying Syrian products.
Ethnic Syrians are a mix of Semetic and Indo-European peoples that have occupied the region over time. Syria's population is 90% Muslim-70% Sunni, and 20% other Muslim groups, including the Alawi, Shi'a, and Druze-and 10% Christian. There also is a tiny Syrian Jewish community that is mainly in Damascus, Aleppo and al-Kamishli.
Arabic is the official, and most widely spoken, language. Arabs, including some 400,000 Palestinian refugees, make up 90% of the population. Many educated Syrians also speak English or French, but English is the more widely understood. The Kurds, many of whom speak Kurdish, make up 10% of the population and live mostly in the northeast corner of Syria, though sizable Kurdish communities live in most major Syrian cities as well. The Assyrian Christians are also a notable minority that live in north and northeast Syria. Armenian and Turkic are spoken among the small Armenian and Turkoman populations. Aramaic, the Lingua franca of the region before the advent of Islam and Arabic, is spoken among certain ethnic groups: as Syriac, it is used as the liturgical language of various Syriac denominations; modern Aramaic (particularly, Turoyo language and Assyrian Neo-Aramaic) is spoken in Al-Jazira region. Most remarkably, Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken in the village of Ma`loula, and two neighbouring villages, 56 km northeast of Damascus.
Most people live in the Euphrates River valley and along the coastal plain, a fertile strip between the coastal mountains and the desert. Overall population density is about 140 per sq. mi. Education is free and compulsory from ages 6 to 11. Schooling consists of 6 years of Primary education followed by a 3-year general or vocational training period and a 3-year academic or vocational program. The second 3-year period of academic training is required for University Admission. Total enrollment at post-secondary schools is over 150,000. The literacy rate of Syrians aged 15 and older is 89% for males and 64% for females.
Syrians have contributed to Arabic literature and music and have a proud tradition of oral and written poetry. Syrian writers, many of whom emigrated to Egypt, played a crucial role in the nahda or Arab literary and cultural revival of the nineteenth century. Prominent contemporary Syrian writers include, among others, Adonis, Haidar Haidar, Ghada al-Samman, Nizar al-Qabbani and Zakaria Taimar.
Syria has a small but notable cinema industry, with production entirely in the hands of the state National Cinema Organisation, which employs film-makers as civil servants. Funding is only sufficient to produce approximately one feature film every year, and these are often then banned by the political censor, but have won prizes at international festivals. Notable directors include Omar Amirali, Usama Muhammad, and Abd al-Latif Abd al-Hamid. Syrian directors have also worked abroad, in Egypt and Europe.
There was a private sector presence in the Syrian cinema industry until the end of the 1970s, but private investment has since preferred the more lucrative television serial business. Syrian soap operas, in a variety of styles (all melodramatic, however), have considerable market penetration throughout the eastern Arab world.
Although declining, Syria's world-famous handicraft industry still employs thousands.
| Date | English Name | Local Name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1 | New Year's Day | - | |
| March 8 | March 8 Revolution | - | - |
| March 21 | Mother's Day | - | - |
| April 17 | Independence Day | - | Celebrates independence from Vichy France |
| -- | Catholic Easter | - | According to the Gregorian calendar |
| -- | Orthodox Easter | - | According to the Julian calendar |
| May 1 | Labor day | - | - |
| May 6 | Martyr's Day | - | - |
| December 25 | Christmas | - | - |
| Dates following the lunar Islamic calendar | |||
| Dhul Hijja 10 | Eid al-Adha | - | - |
| Shawwal 1 | Eid al-Fitr | - | - |
| Rabi`-ul-Awwal 12 | Mawlid | - | Muhammad's birthday |
| Festival/Fair | City | Month |
|---|---|---|
| Flower Festival | Latakia | April |
| International Flower Fair | Damascus | May |
| Vine Festival | As Suwayda | July |
| Cotton Festival | Aleppo | September |
| Damascus International Fair | Damascus | September |
| Festival of Love | Lattakia | September |
| Bosra Festival | Bosra | September |
| Film and Theatre Festival | Damascus | November |
| [image] | Syria portal |
Travel guide to Syria from Wikitravel
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