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Tawfiq al-Suwaidi (1892-1968) (Arabic: ????? ????????) was an Iraqi politician who served as Prime Minister of Iraq on three occasions:
Al-Suwaidi was born in Baghdad in 1892, he completed his early schooling at sixteen and after a year in the local law college, travelled to Istanbul in 1909 where he continued his studies in the Istanbul College of Law.
After completing his studies in Istanbul (graduation 1912) Tawfiq al-Suwaidi's was sent to the Sorbonne in Paris, by his father, to further his Law education.
Al - Suwaidi finally returned to Iraq after finishing his studies in Paris in 1914. He joined the Ministry of Education as a secretary to the committee for the renovation of Shamsuddin Sami's famous French-Turkish Dictionary.
During the first world war, as well as working as a lawyer, Al -Suwaidi worked as a teacher in the Law college in Damascus, teaching Roman and general international law. He accepted these posts after rejecting a judgeship in Dair al - Zor and resigning from a judgeship in Damascus - al-Suwaidi was adamant to take a professional salary paying position rather than a position of prestige in order to repay his father for his European education.
It was in 1928, upon the resignation of the Saadan ministry, that Tawfik al- Sowaidi was appointed premier and called to form his first cabinet. He thus became the youngest premier in Iraq's history.
Iraq was granted membership to the league of nations in 1932 and due to his fluency in foreign languages, particularly French, the then diplomatic language, Tawfiq al-suwaidi was chosen as Iraq's first permanent representative.
In addition to serving as prime minister, Al - suwaidi also held posts as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Justice, the Controller general of state accounts; and separate from his ministerial roles, al-Suwaidi served as a member of the regency council (performing the duties of king or regent at times in which they were absent from the country), a leader of the Iraqui delegation to the league of nations and a leader of the delegation to the united nations.
In 1958, Tawfiq al Suwaidi was selected as the Foreign affairs minister under his own federation. However, this post was dissolved when the royal regime fell on July 14th, 1958.
Because of his close ties to the crown, Suwaidi was arrested in 1958 during the revolution that overthrew the monarchy. Sentenced to life in prison, he was pardoned in 1961 and went into exile in Lebanon, where he died.
Al - Suwaidi was lovingly married, his wife bore three children, Selwa al-Suwaidi, Luay al-Suwaidi and Selma al-Suwaidi.
The oldest child, Selwa Al-Suwaidi passed away in 2006. Luay al-Suwaidi, and his younger sister Selma al - Suwaidi are living and currently reside in London, England. Luay al- Suwaidi is currently married and the father to two children, grandchildren of Tawfiq al -Suwaidi.
References
- Harris M. Lentz III, Heads of States and Governments: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Over 2,300 Leaders, 1945 through 1992. McFarland & Company, Inc., 1994, p.411. ISBN 0-89950-926-6.
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