Despite the fact that the modern Syrian Arab Republic gained independence only in 1961, the history of statehood on its lands goes back many millennia. Scientists believe that the first state formations appeared on the territory of Syria in the 4th millennium BC.
What is ATS? Background
The modern period of Syrian statehood began in 1961, when it gained independence from the United Arab Republic, which at that time represented the union of Egypt and Syria. However, the generally accepted decoding of the CAP abbreviation will appear a little later. The United Arab Republic ceased to exist as a result of a military coup in Damascus after only three and a half years.
After the withdrawal of the republic from the Arab federation, two more military coups took place in the country, as a result of which in 1963 the regime of dominance of the "Arab Socialist Renaissance Party" was established, which is also known as the "Baath", which is translated from Arabic means "Rebirth".
Thus, answering the question of what ATS is, you can answer briefly. After all, this is just an abbreviation that appeared in 1961. And it stands for the Syrian Arab Republic.
The birth of modern Syria
The current political regime was established in Syria in 1961 as a result of a military coup and, despite a fairly tough domestic policy, and largely thanks to it, the republic managed to maintain the secular nature of the state for many decades.
The political system worked out so that power in the country was inherited in 2000 from Hafez al-Assad to his son Bashar al-Assad, who remains the country's leader to this day, despite many years of civil war.
Deciphering the abbreviation CAP in its full version is used extremely rarely and only in official documents. The most commonly used name is Syria or the Syrian Republic.
Demography of the Republic
The word "Arab" in the official name of the country was not used by chance, since most of the population belongs to this ethnic group. The state language is also Arabic.
According to the data for 2015, in the conditions of the civil war and a significant outflow of the population from the country, the number of people living in the republic was estimated at 18.5 million. At the same time, 93% of the population professes Islam, another 6% consider themselves Christians, and the remaining percentage belong to others.denominations.
In addition to the Arabs, the country is also inhabited by Kurds, who make up about 9% of the population, Palestinian refugees, Assyrians, Armenians, Turkomans and descendants of Muhajirs - Circassians.
Largest cities of the SAR
Damascus is the capital of the SAR and its largest city, as well as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on the planet. Before the failed Syrian revolution and prolonged civil war, Damascus was inferior in population to Aleppo, which is now almost completely in ruins, and its inhabitants turned into refugees.
Damascus is located just eighty kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea and for centuries, in spite of everything, remains one of the important cultural and economic centers of the entire Middle East.
The current population of the city reaches 1,600,000 people, a significant part of whom arrived there from other regions of the country that have been under the control of terrorist groups for the past few years.
The third largest city in Syria is Homs, whose population reaches eight hundred thousand people.
Culture of modern Syria
What is ATS on the modern cultural map of the world? The answer to this question cannot be unambiguous. It’s worth starting with the fact that the Syrian people have made a huge contribution to the development of the general Arab culture, and especially to literature and music.
However, over the past few decades, culture and art in Syria have been under significant pressurestate apparatus. While cultural development was hindered by religious regimes, in the SAR it was hindered by secular censorship.
Such an important part of modern life as the Internet has been subjected to censorship and severe restrictions in the country since its inception. The authorities are blocking access to numerous resources that are of great importance for the development of culture and art, as well as education.
However, despite numerous attempts by the authorities to limit progress, independent cultural production also exists in Syria. As a rule, films made by independent directors and banned in the republic win prizes at international film screenings.
Human rights and nation building
Although numerous experts on the Middle East emphasize that Syria is the most secular country in the region, this does not eliminate the issue of human rights violations by this very secular government. The largest population group that has been persecuted in Syria (SAR) for almost sixty years are the Kurds, who make up about 9% of the total population.
What is the SAR after the Arab Spring? In 2011, the statehood of Syria underwent a serious test in the form of a local uprising, which eventually grew into a major internal conflict involving many parties, and later an extensive confrontation, which included the leading powers of the region.
For seven years, all services of the republic exist inemergency mode. However, thanks to international agreements, there has been a trend towards the restoration of the state economy and internal reconciliation.
