Demokrat Parti Dönemi Türkiye-Irak İlişkilerinde A.B.D. Etkisi (1950-1960)

Abstract

This work has been prepared to understand the influence of the US, which became hegemon power after the Cold War started, on Turkey's alliance relations with Iraq during the Democratic Party period. The US encouraged states of region establishing formation to obstruct Soviet Union expansion which started in the Cold War in the region. Some of these formations are the Middle East Command, the Middle East Defense Organization, the Northern Belt, and finally, the Baghdad Pact, which emerged from the plans called the Middle East Defense System. Although the purpose of the establishment of formations was to prevent the Soviet threat, it had transformed into structures in which regional states and global powers tried to manipulate that formation for sake of their interest. The reason for choosing the topic is to be examining the reasons behind why the US decided to not being a member of the Baghdad Pact organization which it created and took part in all planning stages as an implementation of the Middle East System. Because the main subject of study is the USA's impact on the relationship between two states, the cultural and economic relations between Turkey and Iraq are excluded from the scope of the thesis. In the light of the finding that is obtained from the thesis, it is seen that the US has a direct effect on raising relationships between Turkey and Iraq to the level of alliance. But, the same effect also played a dominant role in collapsing of Baghdad Pact and collapsing of the Middle East policy of the two states. The US's timid position on Egypt or Arab nationalism and compromises given by the US to England has led all projects in the region to move away from its dominance. Turkey and Iraq as two countries that were affected most by the situation, despite all their efforts they could not succeed to empower the Baghdad Pact. Difference of opinions which originate from the historical continuities of the two countries as like the Musul İssue, the National Pact and Hatay's accession to Turkey was continuing. Also, there was a disagreement between each other on the policy that would implement in Syria. The relations became more complicated when the result of the behavior of England during the Suez Crisis process and the desire of the USA to remain more neutral instead of giving the necessary support to the Baghdad Pact were added to all these problems. In this study, we have tried to prove that the Middle East crises did not originate from Baghdad Pact and Iraq’s domestic problems became more visible not because of the proclamation of the Baghdad Pact but after the beginning of the Suez Crises. In the thesis, it is stated that Turkey's re-orientation towards the Middle East has different motives from the Soviet threat. In general, political and diplomatic relations are discussed in the study based on the comparative use of Turkish, American, and British Archive. Memoirs of Iraqi administrators who served during the period, newspapers published in Iraq and Arabic secondary sources were used. In this way, with a holistic perspective, it is intended to understand the reflection of regional policy of the US on Iraq- Turkey relationship and clarify the problems that it created.