Turkey - Iraq Relations in the Light of International Treaties from the Treaty of Ankara to the Baghdad Pact

Turkey - Iraq relations have always created the agenda in the fields of problem, cooperation and mutual interests in terms of positive or negative respects. Bileteral relations were initiated at a time when both states needed peace, trust and progress. However, in this period the relations have not turned into cooperation. Because there was still a psychological distance between the two countries that remained in the First World War. Then, a new period was entered where both the desire to consolidate independence and the international system existing at that time direct Turkey and Iraq to cooperate. The bipolar international system that emerged at the end of Second World War has changed the regional balances with the whole world. Furthermore the number of determinants in bileteral relations increased considerably by new developments such as the establishment of Israel, the independence of Egypt, the application of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan etc. Bileteral relations directly reflected both Turkish and Iraqi foreign policies and related periodic changes in all three periods. In all these processes, important treaties, conventions and protocols have been signed arising from states’ needs or external factors. The treaties which have been signed arising external factors failed to create the expected impact on security issues but were functional in terms of understanding the relations between two countries and international political conjuncture. On the other hand the agreements signed by the states based on their own needs have met the expectations more.

Keywords

Turkey - Iraq relations, Treaty of Ankara, Saadabad Pact, Treaty of Friendship and Neigbourly Relati