Muhammad Naji al-Otari

Muhammad Naji al-Otari (Arabic: محمد ناجي عطري, romanized: Muḥammad Nājī al-'Uṭrī, also Etri, Itri and Otri; born 1 January 1944)^[1] is a Syrian politician who was Prime Minister of Syria from 2003 to 2011.^[2]

Muhammad Naji al-Otari
محمد ناجي عطري
Prime Minister of Syria
In office 10 September 2003 – 14 April 2011
President	Bashar al-Assad
Deputy	Abdullah Dardari
Preceded by	Muhammad Mustafa Mero
Succeeded by	Adel Safar
Speaker of the People's Assembly of Syria
In office 9 March 2003 – 18 September 2003
Preceded by	Abdel Kader Kaddoura
Succeeded by	Mahmoud al-Abrash
Member of the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch
In office 21 June 2000 – 8 July 2013
Governor of Homs
In office 1993–2000
Preceded by	Yahya Abu Asli
Succeeded by	Hossam al-Din al-Hakim
Personal details
Born	(1944-01-01) 1 January 1944 (age 81) Aleppo, Syria
Political party	Ba'ath Party
Other political affiliations	National Progressive Front
Cabinet	Al-Otari

Early life and education

Born in Aleppo in 1944, Otari studied architecture and has a diploma in urban planning from the Netherlands. He is fluent in French, English, and Spanish.^[3]

Career

Otari headed the city council in Aleppo from 1983 to 1987 and is a former governor of Homs. He was president of Aleppo's engineering syndicate from 1989 to 1993. He is a long-serving member of the ruling Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. In March 2000, he became a member of the Ba'ath Party's Central Committee and in June 2000 of the party's influential Regional Command. In March 2000, he was also appointed deputy prime minister for services affairs and he served in this post until 2003.^[4] He was elected speaker of the Syrian parliament, or People's Assembly, in March 2003.^[4]

Prime minister

He was first appointed Prime Minister on 10 September 2003. His nomination has been said to combine both "technocratic and Ba'athist trends" in Syrian politics.^[3] On 29 March 2011, the entire cabinet resigned following protests against the regime.^[2] On 3 April 2011, President Assad appointed Adel Safar to succeed Otari.