Rafiq al-Azm

Rafīq Bey ibn Mahmūd al-ʿAzm (Arabic: رفيق بك بن محمود العظم, 1865-1925) was a Syrian intellectual, author, and politician.

'Azm served as the president of the Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization and was a key figure in the intellectual formation of Arabism.

In 1894 Ottoman authorities began cracking down on constitutionalists and their organizations, including the CUP; in the same year 'Azm fled to Cairo, Egypt.

[6] Following the 1908 Young Turk Revolution the society was disbanded; 'Azm visited Istanbul and joined the Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization.

[5] As part of the Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization, Rafiq al-ʿAzm along with his cousin Haqqi al-Azm opposed proposals to exclude non-Arabs and non-Muslims from the party, pushing for the affirmative inclusion of Jews, Druzes, and Christians in order to best reflect the makeup of Syria.