The interesting life story of Michel Aflaq, who is considered the father and founder of the Baath ideology, which has become known for oppression, cruelty, and massacres after it turned into dictatorships in Iraq and Syria.
Baath (resurgence), one of the political movements that left its mark on the last century of the Middle East, emerged as a nationalist reaction against the exploitation order of imperialist countries.
Michel Aflaq, who is considered the father and founder of the Baath (resurrection) Ideology, which emerged as a nationalist reaction against the system of exploitation implemented by imperialist countries in the Middle East region, was born in Damascus in 1910. He is a member of an Orthodox Christian family engaged in trade. After completing his secondary education in French schools in Syria, he studied Philosophy at Sorbonne University between 1929 and 1932. In France, he was influenced by the ideas of philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson and became interested in Marxism.
Michel Aflaq (9 January 1910 – 23 June 1989) was a Syrian philosopher, sociologist and Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its political movement; he is considered by several Ba'athists to be the principal founder of Ba'athist thought. He published various books during his lifetime, the most notable being The Battle for One Destiny (1958) and The Struggle Against Distorting the Movement of Arab Revolution (1975).
He also met Selahaddin Bitar, with whom he would founded the Baath Movement, in France. After returning to Syria, he taught history lessons in schools. When they could not get permission from the French mandate to establish a party, they founded the Arab Revival Movement with Selahaddin Bitar in 1940. They changed the movement's name to the Arab Baath Movement in 1942. In 1947, when Zeki Arsuzi joined the Eflak and Bitar duo, the movement turned into a party and the first congress was held. At the end of the congress, Michel Aflaq was elected the spiritual leader and mentor of the party, and Selahaddin Bitar was elected general secretary.
Interestingly, Zeki Arsuzi was not given a task at the congress. The party's media organ, "el Baath" newspaper, was founded in 1948. Michel Aflaq harshly criticized the current government for its defeat in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and organized protests. As a result of these criticisms, he was detained for a while. Hashim Attasi won the elections held in 1949, and Michel Aflaq was given the post of minister of education in the established government. He remained in this position until December 1949.
In 1951, Colonel Edip Çiçekli staged a coup and seized power. When he took power, he banned the activities of all political parties. Due to the increasing pressure, Eflak fled to Lebanon with Selahaddin Bitar and tried to cooperate with all opposition parties to end the rule of Edip Çiçekli in Lebanon. In 1953, the Arab Socialist Baath Party was founded by merging with Ekrem Havrani's Arab Socialist Party. When Çiçekli's rule ended with another coup in 1954, he returned to Syria. In the subsequent elections, the Baath Party won 22 seats in the parliament.
United Arab Republic
The defeat of the Arab armies in the war with Israel in 1948 led to increased public anger and intolerance towards mandates and kingdoms. In 1952, the Free Officers movement in Egypt, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, staged a coup against King Farouk and seized power, and then the republican system was declared as the new form of government of the country. Gamal Abdel Nasser became the country's president in 1954.
In this context, the United Arab Republic of Syria and Egypt was established in 1958 and Gamal Abdel Nasser was appointed as its leader. The fact that members of the Baath Party were not given sufficient duties in the administration, the command of Syrian soldiers from Egypt, and the abolition of political parties caused discomfort in the Syrian People and the Baath Front. In 1961, a coup by some Syrian officers ended the union. In 1963, Baathist officers, with the support of Michel Aflaq, staged a coup and seized power. After this period, the weight of the soldiers began to be felt within the party. After a while, conflicts between military and civilian Baathists began to emerge openly.
Michel Aflaq lost the party congress held in 1965. Munif Rezzaz was elected general secretary in his place. Then the National Committee determined the new management. In the new administration, Eflak's close friend Selahaddin Bitar was appointed as prime minister. During this period, conflicts between soldiers and civilians within the party continued to increase. Baathists with military backgrounds dismissed those who were close to civilian Baathists, and civilian Baathists dismissed those who were close to Baathists with military backgrounds. In 1966, Baathist officers under the leadership of Hafez Assad and Salah Cedid staged a coup again. Many civilian leaders of the party fled the country.
Michel Aflaq and his supporters were detained. Aflaq first escaped to Beirut with the help of some reliable friends in the army, and after a while, he fled from Beirut to Brazil. After the coup by Hafez Assad and Salah Cedid in Syria, the Baath Party was divided into two, namely the Iraqi and Syrian Baath Parties. After the fall of Michel Aflaq, Salah Cedid was appointed as the leader of the Syrian Baath Party. It was accepted that the leader of the movement was Zeki Arsuzi, and Wallachia and Bitar were completely liquidated.
Iraqi Baathists, led by Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein, thought that Michel Aflaq was the leader and guide of the movement. Iraqi Baathists elected Michel Aflaq as the party's general secretary at the congress they held in Beirut in 1968. However, some unexpected conflicts arose between Michel Aflaq and Bitar, and their paths parted after this congress. Bitar announced that he completely rejected the Baath ideology.
Michel Aflaq moved to Baghdad after being elected general secretary at the Beirut Congress. The Iraqi Baathists' failure to support the Palestine Liberation Organization and Yasser Arafat caused a rift between Michel Aflaq and Iraq's Baathist leader at the time, Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr. Michel Aflaq reacted to this situation and left Baghdad in 1970 and moved to Beirut. He returned to Iraq before the start of the Lebanese civil war. After Wallachia and Bitar, Salah Cedid and Hafez Assad became the new leaders of Syria. However, the defeat in the 6-Day War and the admission of some members of the Black September Organization to Syria caused a rift between Salah Cedid and Hafez Assad. On November 13, 1970, Hafez Assad staged a coup against Salah Cedid and took the leadership seat. When he became the sole ruler of the country, he decided to kill Eflak in his absence.
After returning to Iraq, Eflak stayed away from politics and only continued to serve as party general secretary. Saddam Hussein, who took over power in Iraq in the last years of his life, showed him the necessary respect, but Aflaq did not have a say in the administration. He devoted most of his time to writing books.
He died on June 23, 1989, in Paris, where he went to have heart surgery. His body was brought from Paris to Baghdad. Saddam Hussein announced that Michel Aflaq converted to Islam and took the name Ahmet before his death, but the accuracy of this issue is not fully known. His body was arranged according to Islamic procedures and buried in the mausoleum built by Saddam Hussein.