Ammar Khaled Bakdash (; 16 August 1954 – 12 July 2025) was a Syrian politician and economist, who served as Secretary-General of the Syrian Communist Party (Bakdash) from 2010 until the party was banned in 2025, following the

fall of the Assad regime On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, major offensive by Syrian opposition, opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported mainly by the Turk ...

Life and career

Bakdash was born in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Khalid Bakdash Khalid Bakdash (occasionally spelled Khalid Bagdash or Khaled Bekdache, ) (1912 – July 15, 1995) was a Syrian-Kurdish politician who was the founder of the Syrian Communist Party (SCP) and lead it from 1936 until his death in 1995. In 1954, Bakd ...

, the founder and long-time Secretary-General of the

Syrian Communist Party The Syrian Communist Party () was a political party in Syria founded in 1944 as a division of the Syrian–Lebanese Communist Party, which later split into the Syrian Communist Party and the Lebanese Communist Party. In 1972, it became a memb ...

, and Wisal Bakdash, who would succeed her husband as Secretary-General. Ammar Bakdash himself joined the Syrian Communist Party in 1969, before leaving Syria to study in Moscow; he obtained a master's degree in economic planning from the Plekhanov Moscow Institute for National Economy, and received a doctorate in economic sciences from

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

in 1983. Bakdash was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Syrian Communist Party (Bakdash) in 1990, of the Politburo in 1992 and of the Central Secretariat in 1993. He was a deputy of the People's Assembly, the Syrian parliament, from 2003 until June 2024, where he served as chairman of the Financial Laws Committee between 2016 and 2020. In 2010 Bakdash was elected Secretary-General of the party, and served as such until the party was banned under

Ahmed al-Sharaa Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa (born 29 October 1982) also known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Mohammad al-Julani, is a Syrian politician and former rebel commander serving as the president of Syria since January 2025. He previously served as the coun ...

in January 2025, following the fall of the

Assad regime Ba'athist Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), was the Syrian state between 1963 and 2024 under the one-party rule of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. From 1971 until its collapse in 2024, it was rule ...

. With help from the

Communist Party of Greece The Communist Party of Greece (, ΚΚΕ; ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. It was founded in 1918 as the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (SEKE) and adopted its current name in Novem ...

, Bakdash subsequently fled Syria for

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. He died of a heart attack in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

in July 2025, at the age of 70, and was buried at

Kaisariani Kaisariani () is a suburban town and a municipality in the eastern part of the Athens#Athens Urban Area, Athens agglomeration in Greece. Geography Kaisariani is located about southeast of Athens city centre, and of the Acropolis of Athens. T ...

Municipal Cemetery eulogised by

Dimitris Koutsoumpas Dimitrios Koutsoumbas (; born 10 August 1955), known as Dimitris Koutsoumbas (, ) is a Greek communist politician and member of the Hellenic Parliament who has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) since 14 April 2013. ...

, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the

, and Ilias Stamelos, the communist Mayor of

References

1954 births 2025 deaths Syrian communists 20th-century Syrian politicians 21st-century Syrian politicians Members of the People's Assembly of Syria Syrian exiles Syrian expatriates in Greece {{Syria-politician-stub