Khatib, Zaki

Zaki al-Khatib studied law and civil administration in Istanbul . In 1907-1916, he served in Damascus in the civil service. In 1918, he became close to the regime of King Faisal , then the ruler of Syria , and became head of intelligence in Aleppo , having worked in this position until 1920. After the establishment of the French mandate in Syria, al-Khatib was transferred to a less significant post as head of the Syrian postal service. Subsequently, he held other posts, but in 1927 he resigned due to disagreements that arose with the French administration. In 1928, for three months, al-Khatib was a member of the assembly involved in the development of the first republican constitution of Syria . In February 1928, he first received a ministerial portfolio, heading the Ministry of Justice in the government of Taj al-Din al-Hasani . In 1930, al-Khatib joined the Syrian National Bloc - one of the largest political movements in Syria at that time. According to the list of Blok, al-Khatib in 1932 and 1936 was elected a member of the Syrian parliament . In 1939, al-Khatib left the Bloc due to the organization’s inability to prevent the transfer of Alexandretta’s sanjak to Turkey , and joined the opposition, which was then led by Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar . Then al-Khatib, at the suggestion of Shahbandar , organized the National Unity Party , which, according to the creators, was supposed to unite the country's opposition forces, but this did not happen. In 1941, he again became Minister of Justice, now in the government of Hassan al-Hakim . After Syria gained independence in 1946, al-Khatib joined the People’s Party , which was in opposition to President Shukri Quatli . In 1947, he was once again elected to parliament . In December 1949, al-Khatib received the portfolio of the Minister of Justice for the third time, this time in the government under the leadership of Khaled Azem , and retained it in the next government of Nazim al-Qudsi . In November 1949, he again took part in the work of the assembly, which was developing the country's constitution. In September 1950, al-Khatib was elected to the Syrian parliament for the fourth time, and in 1951, President Hashim al-Atashi invited him to form a government, but al-Khatib failed to reach an agreement with the Syrian political parties. After the coup in November 1951 by Adib Shishakli , al-Khatib left politics. Zaki al-Khatib died on April 24, 1961 ^[1] .

• List of Prime Ministers of Syria
• French Mandate in Syria and Lebanon

• Zaki al-Khatib at syrianhistory.com