British-Turkish alignment within the framework of the Central Treaty Organization CENTO 1959-1960, a documentary study of the strategy of defending the Middle

Abstract

The importance of the study of the British-Turkish strategic alliance within the Central Treaty organization (CENTO) stems from their interest in the Middle East. In particular the closeness of visions toward alliance projects in this sensitive region of the world. within its time frame, the study highlights the first official meeting of Baghdad Pact Foreign Ministers after the July 14, 1958 coup in Iraq, in Karachi from 26-28 January 1959. The meeting was concluded by establishing the Agreement on the Status of the Central Treaty Organization, National representatives and International Staff on January 9, 1959. The study highlights three meetings on the member states Foreign Ministers level, their events and how they changed the name to CENTO.

The study is divided into three chapters; the first one summarizes Turkish-British interest in the Middle East from 1955-1959, explains the circumstances lead to establishing the pact and explains the role of Turkey and Britain in the pact.  The second chapter talks about the meetings of the member states in the pact, the side discussions in order to keep it from January to August 1959 and the discussion of naming it CENTO. The third chapter studies the period from August 1959 - January 1960, which is the date of this agreement establishment; this date was not mentioned in any previous studies handled CENTO, which is preserved in the National Archive in London. the researcher wants the study to be based on unpublished documents covering those developments. Those documents are preserved in the National Archive in Kew/London, Britain. On the top of those documents are the documents of the British Foreign Ministry. There are ten documents and two important files from the Dominion Office; they cover the meetings held between 1959-1960, in addition to the documents published from the British House of Commons, the documents of the U.S. foreign relations, the series of published agreements by the United Nations and some Arabic and foreign journals.