Najah al-Attar: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|Syrian politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=JulyMay 20172024}}

| name honorific_prefix = Najah[[Her al-Attar<br>Excellency]]

| image =

| term_end = 8 December 2024

|predecessor alongside = [[Zuhair Masharqa]]<br/>[[Abdul Halim Khaddam]]<br/>= [[Farouk al-Sharaa]] (2006–2014)<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2014/07/20/Syria-s-Assad-reappoints-woman-VP-but-mum-on-Sharaa |title = Syria's Assad reappoints woman VP but mum on Sharaa |date = 20 July 2014 |access-date = 26 September 2022 |archive-date = 27 February 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210227092038/https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2014/07/20/Syria-s-Assad-reappoints-woman-VP-but-mum-on-Sharaa |url-status = live}}</ref><br>[[Faisal Mekdad]] (2024)

| birth_place = [[Damascus]], [[French Syria]]

| party = [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Syrian Regional Branch]] of the [[Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party]]

| spouse = {{marriage|Majid al-Azma|1955|2018|end=died}}

'''Najah Alal-Attar''' ({{lang-langx|ar|نجاح العطار}}; born 10 January 1933) is a Syrian politician who served as the [[Vicevice Presidentpresident of Syria]], sincefrom 2006 to 2024. She is the first [[Arab woman]] to have held the post.<ref>{{cite news|title=Syria's First Female Vice President Hailed as Progress for Women|url=http://archive.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=79682&d=24&m=3&y=2006|newspaper=[[Arab News]]|date=24 March 2006|access-date=18 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117222623/http://archive.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=79682&d=24&m=3&y=2006|archive-date=17 January 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Previously she was Ministerminister of Cultureculture from 1976 to 2000.

Attar was born on 10 January 1933 and raised in [[Damascus]] as a member of a Sunni Muslim family.<ref name=aahram30mar/><ref>[http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Dec-26/199833-assad-inner-circle-takes-hard-line-in-syria-conflict.ashx#axzz2OYO1mUZ8 "Assad inner circle takes hard line in Syria conflict"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625080642/http://www.dailystar.com.lb//News/Middle-East/2012/Dec-26/199833-assad-inner-circle-takes-hard-line-in-syria-conflict.ashx#axzz2OYO1mUZ8 |date=25 June 2018 }}, ''The Daily Star'', 26 December 2012.</ref><ref>[http://countrystudies.us/syria/56.htm Syria] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922055630/http://countrystudies.us/syria/56.htm |date=22 September 2012 }} ''Country Studies''</ref> Her father was among the first [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]] leaders who took part in the 1925-1927 Syrian revolt against the [[French Mandate of Syria]]. She studied at the [[Damascus University|University of Damascus]], graduating in 1954, and obtained a [[PhD]] in [[Arabic literature]] from the [[University of Edinburgh]] in the [[United Kingdom]] in 1958.<ref name=raida>{{cite journal|title=The First Woman Minister in the Syrian Government|journal=Al Raida|date=September 1997|issue=2|url=http://iwsawassets.lau.edu.lb/alraida/alraida-2.pdf|access-date=25 September 2013|archive-date=28 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928203546/http://iwsawassets.lau.edu.lb/alraida/alraida-2.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> She also received a number of certificates then in [[international relations]] and in [[literary criticism|literary]] and [[art criticism]].

Attar is an accomplished [[translator]] and started teaching in high schools within Damascus after her return from Scotland, then worked in the Department of Translation of the Syrian Ministry of Culture. In 1976, she was appointed as Ministerminister of Cultureculture,<ref name=raida/> serving in that post until 2000. On 23 March 2006, she was appointed asvice Vice Presidentpresident.<ref name=aahram30mar>{{cite news|last=Moubayed|first=Sami|title=Vice-President Najah al-Attar|url=http://www.mideastviews.com/print.php?art=103|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411090701/http://www.mideastviews.com/print.php?art=103|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-04-11 April 2013|access-date=1 March 2013|newspaper=Al Ahram Weekly|date=30 March – 5 April 2006}}</ref>

Although Attar iswas Vicevice Presidentpresident and served as a long-term minister in Syria, a state largely controlled by the secular [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Ba'ath Party]], her brother, [[Issam al-Attar]], iswas the leader of the Damascus faction of the [[Muslim Brotherhood#Syria|Syrian Muslim Brotherhood]] and has lived in exile in [[Aachen, Germany|Aachen, West Germany]] since the 1970s, which saw a government persecution of various [[Islamism|Islamist]] political movements.

[[Category:Syrian ministersMinisters of culture of Syria]]

[[Category:Women vice presidents in Asia]]