Ahmad Nami

Ahmed Nami
أحمد نامي
Ahmad Nami dressed in full Masonic attire in 1925
2nd President of Syria and 5th Prime Minister of Syria
In office 28 April 1926 – 15 February 1928
Preceded by	Subhi Bey Barakat
Succeeded by	Taj al-Din al-Hasani
Personal details
Born	Ahmed Nami 1873 Beirut, Beirut Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died	13 December 1962(1962-12-13) (aged 88–89) Beirut, Lebanon
Political party	Independent
Spouse	Ayşe Sultan ​ ​ (m. 1910; div. 1921)​

"Al-Damad" Ahmad Nami or "Damat" Ahmet Nami (Arabic: أحمد نامي, romanized: Aḥmad Nāmī;‎ 1873 – 13 December 1962) was an Ottoman prince (damat), the fifth prime minister of Syria and second president of Syria (1926–28), and a lecturer of history and politics.

His first language was Turkish and could hardly speak Arabic.

Early life

Ahmad Nami was born in 1873 in Beirut to an affluent family related to the Ottoman dynasty. He was of Turkish and Circassian origin, and his father Fakhri Bey was governor of Beirut during the Ottoman rule.

Nami studied in the Ottoman Military Academy and received military training in Paris. He married Ayşe Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1910. By 1909, the family were forced into exile in France when Nami's father-in-law, the Sultan, was overthrown from his throne by the Young Turks. Nami moved back to Beirut in 1918 where he administered his family’s enterprises.

In July 1920, the French officers in the region delegated Nami to form a government in Syria and gave him limited presidential powers. By April 26, 1926, Nami created his official cabinet and appointed Husni al-Barazi as Minister of Interior, Faris al-Khury as Minister of Education, and Lutfi al-Haffar as Minister of Commerce. However, in June 1926 the ministers all resigned from their posts to protest the French policies toward their nationalist movement; they were then arrested by the French High Commissioner of the Levant Henry de Jouvenel. Nami sought to secure their release but was threatened by imprisonment, causing him to replace his cabinet with three pro-French politicians.

Nami worked relentlessly against the establishment of a separate Lebanon and promoted the historical boundaries to preserve Syrian unity (the region of Syria). He also sought to have a national army and requested entry into the League of Nations. Moreover, he demanded that the French compensate citizens whose homes had been destroyed during the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925–27, and also asked for a general amnesty to permit the return of Syrian exiles. However, the authorities in Paris objected to Nami’s ambitions and accused him of establishing a monarchy. Consequently, he was removed from the office on February 8, 1928.

In 1932, the French reconsidered creating a throne in Syria and appointing Nami as the king, though this plan never came to light. He was then considered a possible candidate for presidential office in 1940. However, the National Bloc objected to his leadership.

Retirement

Nami retired from public life and moved to Lebanon in the 1940s. He occasionally travelled to France as a visiting lecturer on history and politics at the Sorbonne University.

He died on 13 December 1962.

Personal life

Nami had two sons and a daughter from his marriage with the Ottoman princess Ayşe Sultan:

• Sultanzade Omer Nami Bey then Nami-Osmanoğlu (19 November 1911 - 17 March 1993). Born in Bebek Palace; died in Lausanne. He had two wives and one daughter:
  • Saadet Said Kamil. She was born on 21 September 1907, daughter of Said Kamil Bey and Fehime Fakhri Hanim. She died in Beirut on 13 August 1974. By her he had one daughter:
    • Ayşe Rebia Nami (b. 3 August 1945)
  • Yolande Saad. They got married on 10 November 1975 in Istanbul.
• Aliye Namiye Hanımsultan (7 February 1913 - 9 April 1913). She died in infancy and was buried in mausoleum of Şehzade Ahmed Kemaleddin, Yayha Efendi cemetery.
• Sultanzade Osman Nami Bey then Nami-Osmanoğlu (13 January 1918 - 15 July 2010). Born in Geneva; died in Istanbul, and was buried in the mausoleum of Mahmud II;. He married twice and had five daughters:
  • Adile Tanyeri. They married on 18 January 1946 and she died on 8 August 1958 in Tunis. By her he had two daughters:
    • Mediha Şükriye Nami-Osmanoğlu (b. 24 May 1947). She has one daughter:
      • Ayşe Marie-Christine Nami-Conopio (b. 16 July 1969)
    • Fethiye Nimet Nami-Osmanoğlu (b. 21 March 1957).
  • Rothraud Granzow. Born 9 April 1934 to Hoya Vesser, they married on 18 July 1959. By her he had three daughters:
    • Ayşe Adile Nami-Osmanoğlu (b. 6 August 1958). She has one son and one daughter:
      • Osman Necati Ferhat Ariba (b. 31 January 1980)
      • Ayşe Feyzan Ariba (b. 9 September 1983)
    • Gül Nür Dorothée Nami-Osmanoğlu (b. 10 January 1960). She has one son and two daughters:
      • Hanzade Audrey Nami-Ragot (b. 4 February 1988)
      • Ayzade Maylis Nami-Ragot (b. 16 June 1991)
      • Aléxis Cem Nami-Ragot (b. 11 March 1993)
    • Ayten Sofia Nami-Osmanoğlu (b. 24 March 1961). She has one daughter:
      • Refia Roksan Kunter (b. 8 October 1984)

Bibliography

• Khoury, Philip Shukry (2014). Syria and the French Mandate: The Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920-1945. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400858392.
• Moubayed, Sami M. (2006). "Nami, Ahmad (1879-1960)". Steel & Silk: Men and Women Who Shaped Syria 1900-2000. Cune Press. ISBN 978-1-885942-40-1.