He was born in and raised in the capital Damascus. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Medicine from Damascus University and his graduate in Paris. He became the Minister of Health under the United Arab Republic (UAR) but resigned due to a conflict with Gamal Abdel Nasser. Later, he became the Prime Minister of Syria after the dissolution of the UAR.
Bashir al-Azma was one of several Syrian Prime Ministers who intended to keep Syria out of the east–west conflict and demonstrate its passive approach to it. On 22 April 1962, al-Azma declared on Radio Damascus that Syria's foreign policy continued to be based on "the principles of positive neutrality and non-alignment with military blocs, non-participation in the Cold War, and respect for the principles of the UN Charter."[1]
Personal life
Bashir al-Azma was from the distinguished al-Azma family, who were of Turkish origin.[2]
^Roded, Ruth (1986), "Social Patterns Among the Urban Elite of Syria During the Late Ottoman Period", in Kusher, David (ed.), Palestine in the Late Ottoman Period: Political, Social, and Economic Transformation, BRILL, p. 159, ISBN9004077928, Yusuf Bey al-Azma, from a Turkoman family of merchants and landowners... His nephew Nabih Bey had a similar career and several other 'Azmas were Ottoman officers.
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