A faithful ally of
Washington
ON SEPTEMBER 5, at the behest of President Turgut
Özal, Turkey's parllament voted through a law authorizing the despatch of Turkish troops abroad. The parliament also agreed to permit the stationing of foreign troops on Its territory.
Both these measures are evidently meant to open the way to Turkish participation in the
FUAT ORÇUN together Turkey and Iraq before being signed by Britain, Pakistan and Iran. The US was content to participate as an "observer", partly because Israel had been excluded, partly to avoid extra friction with the Soviet Union. The pact guaranteed British military bases in Iraq.
Turkey at the Bandung conference
After the establishment of the Baghdad Pact, Egypt and Syria founded a unified military command, while Saudi Arabia signed agreements with these two coun tries. Turkey was despatched to the Bandung conference in 1955 of Afro-Asian countries by the US to put the pro-imperialist line to an audience from coun tries seeking a "third way" between imperialism and the Soviet bloc. Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Libya were on the Western side at Bandung, while Egypt, Syria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia took a neutral stand — the Saudi attitude being above all determined by a dynastic conflict with Jordan.
However, the Baghdad Pact did not survive its first real test. In 1956, France and Britain intervened militarily in the Suez canal to oppose the nationalization of the canal by Egypt's Nasser. None of the members of the Baghdad Pact, apart from Britain itself, supported the Western inter- 21 vention in Suez, and they took the Arab
October 15, 1990 • #192 International Viewpoint excluded Imperialist crusade in Saudi Arabia. Despite oilthe a shared interests with Iraq's Saddam
Hussein in repressing the Kurds, Turkey is taking its habitual stand as a resolute supporter of imperialism in the Middle East.
The following article looks at the history of
Turkey's postwar pro-western alignment.
excluded Imperialist crusade in Saudi Arabia. Despite a shared interests with Iraq's Saddam
Hussein in repressing the Kurds, Turkey is taking its habitual stand as a resolute supporter of imperialism in the Middle East.
The following article looks at the history of
Turkey's postwar pro-western alignment.