Subhi Bey Barakat

Subhi Bey Barakat al-Khalidi or Suphi Bereket (Arabic: صبحي بك بركات الخالدي‎‎ Turkish: Suphi Bereket; 1889, Antioch – 1939, Turkey) was a Syrian politician from Antakya, born into a family of Turkish origin. During the French Mandate of Syria, he was the president of the Syrian Federation from 29 June 1922 (the day following its creation) to 31 December 1924 and the State of Syria from 1 January 1925 to 21 December 1925.

Part of the reason the French supported his candidacy as president of the Syrian Federation was because as neither a native of Damascus nor a very strong Arabic speaker (Turkish was his mother tongue), he did not seem to pose a nationalist threat to French rule.

Initially he was a partner of Ibrahim Hanano in his revolt. He played a major role in merging the States of Aleppo and Damascus into one state, and he quit the presidency of Syria in 1925 in protest to the French position regarding the fate of the Alawite and Druze States, which France refused to add to Syria because it feared that might endanger the independence of the newly created Lebanon.

Personal life

Barakat was married to Halide; They has 3 sons, Rifat, Halit and Selahattin and 3 daughters Süheyla Mukbile married Refik Koraltan's son Oguzhan Koraltan, Zehra married Turkish diplomat Vahit Melih Halefoğlu, Saniye married to businessman Fazil Tuzemen.

See also

• Mandate for Syria and Lebanon