Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr was an Iraqi politician who served as the fourth president of Iraq, from 17 July 1968 to 16 July 1979. He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and later the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organisation Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism.
Official portrait, c. 1968
Tripartite unity talks between Iraqi Prime Minister al-Bakr (left), Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser (center) and Syrian President Lu'ay al-Atassi (right), 16 April 1963
al-Bakr (left) shaking hands with Michel Aflaq, the founder of ba'athist thought, in 1968
The Arab Socialist Baʿth Party was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bīṭār, and associates of Zakī al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused Baʿathism, which is an ideology mixing Arab nationalist, pan-Arab, Arab socialist, and anti-imperialist interests. Baʿthism calls for the unification of the Arab world into a single state. Its motto, "Unity, Liberty, Socialism", refers to Arab unity, and freedom from non-Arab control and interference.
Michel Aflaq (left) and Salah al-Din Bitar (right) with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser (centre) in 1958. The three leaders were prime advocates for a pan-Arab union
Part of the 1947 Ba'ath Party constitution
Akram al-Hawrani (left) with Michel Aflaq, 1957.
