Adib Shishakli

Adib Shishakli

Adib Bin Hassan Al-Shishakli (Arabic: أديب بن حسن الشيشكلي‎, 1909 - 27 September 1964) was a Syrian military leader and President of Syria (1953–54).

Born in Hama in 1909, Shishakli served with the French Army during the mandate era. He studied at the Military Academy of Damascus (which later was relocated to Homs) and became an early member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) of Antun Saadeh, promoting the concept of a Greater Syria. His brother Salah was also a prominent member of the SSNP. After independence, Shishakli fought in a volunteer Arab army, known as the Army of Deliverance, against the Zionist militias in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Although he was born in Ottoman-Syria, and he is considered Syrian, his origin is doubtful. His family name Shishakli is a common Turkish surname, and written as "Çiçekli" in Turkish. "Çiçek" means flower in Turkish, and Çiçekli (Shishakli) means someone or some place with flowers. The known fact about his family is his father Ali Hasan Shishakli was a Turk, who was born in Ankara, and his mother was of Syrian origin. Also argued is that, his family was a notable Syrian-Kurdish family. But his claim is questionable as his father was a Turkish man, and his mother's ethnic origin is not known only she was Syrian. They were a family living in the Hama province of Ottoman Syria, since during his early childhood, Syria was a part of Ottoman Empire.