Despite the fact that the modern Syrian Arab Republic gained independence only in 1961, the history of statehood on its lands dates back many millennia. Scientists believe that the first state entities appeared on the territory of Syria in the IV millennium BC.
What is an 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 acronym ATS will appear a little later. The United Arab Republic ceased to exist as a result of a military coup in Damascus, lasting only three and a half years.
After the republic left the Arab Federation, two more military coups took place in the country, as a result of which the domination regime of the “party of the Arab Socialist Renaissance” was established in 1963, which is also known as the Ba'ath, which means “Revival” in Arabic. .
Thus, answering the question about what is ATS, you can answer shortly. After all, this is just an abbreviation that appeared in 1961. And it stands for Syrian Arab Republic.
The birth of modern Syria
The existing political regime was established in Syria in 1961 as a result of a military coup and, despite the rather tough domestic political course, and largely thanks to it, the republic was able to maintain the secular nature of the state for many decades.
The political system was set up in such a way that power in the country was transferred in 2000 by inheritance from Hafez al-Assad to his son Bashar al-Assad, who remains the leader of the country to this day, despite even a long civil war.
Deciphering the abbreviation ATS in its full version is used extremely rarely and only in official documents. The most commonly used name is Syria or the Syrian Republic.
Demographics of the Republic
The word “Arab” in the official name of the country was not used accidentally, since most of the population belongs to this ethnic group. The official language is also Arabic.
According to 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 profess Islam, another 6% consider themselves Christians, and the remaining percentage belongs to other faiths.
In addition to Arabs, Kurds also make up the country, accounting for about 9% of the population, the Palestinian refugees, Assyrians, Armenians, Turkomans and descendants of the 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 constantly populated cities on the planet. Before the unsuccessful Syrian revolution and the long civil war, Damascus was inferior in population to Aleppo, which now lies almost completely in ruins, and its inhabitants turned into refugees.
Damascus is located only eighty kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea and for centuries, no matter what, remains one of the important cultural and economic centers of the entire Middle East.
The modern population of the city reaches 1,600,000 people, a significant portion 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.
The culture of modern Syria
What is ATS on the modern cultural map of the world? The answer to this question cannot be unequivocal. It is worth starting with the fact that the Syrian people made a huge contribution to the development of a common Arab culture, and especially to literature and music.
However, over the past few decades, culture and art in Syria have been under significant pressure from the state apparatus. While religious regimes hindered the development of culture, censorship by secular authorities hindered this in the SAR.
Such an important part of modern life as the Internet has been censored and severely restricted in the country since its inception. Authorities block access to numerous resources 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 in Syria also exists. As a rule, films made by independent directors and banned in the republic receive prizes at international film screenings.
Human Rights and State-Building
Although numerous experts in the Middle East emphasize that Syria is the most secular country in the region, this does not remove the issue of human rights violations by this highly secular government. The largest population that has been persecuted in Syria (ATS) for almost sixty years is the Kurds, which make up about 9% of the total population.
What is ATS after the Arab Spring? In 2011, Syrian statehood was subjected to a serious test in the form of a local uprising, which eventually developed 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 in emergency mode. However, thanks to international agreements, there has been a tendency towards the restoration of the state economy and internal reconciliation.