The American's concept of the northern tier defence project and Turkey (1953-1954)

Britain?s military and political activities in the Middle East continiued untilthe end of the Second World War. However, after the war, Britain was in a seriouseconomic crisis. Therefore, they retreated from some of their colonies and stoppedsupporting countries, such as Greece and Turkey. Britain, who has important benefitsin the Middle East, was forced to share their responsibilities with the United States ofAmerica.After the Second World War, the Soviet Unions wanted to spread in theMiddle East. Because of this extension based on politics of the Soviet Union, Britainand the the United States of America worked in cooperation for the defence of theMiddle East.The first project applied by Britain to defend Middle East, was the MiddleEast Command. Egypt, who was in the middle of this military based project, refusedit. Because of this reason, another politically based of Middle East DefenceOrganization, was proposed to the Arab states; however, this project wasn?tsuccessful, either. The enmity and nationalism against the colonialist states were themain reasons of the failure of those projects.The Eisenhower government, which came to power in 1953 in the UnitedStatas of America, started to follow more active politics in the Middle East. The firststep of the Northern Tier Defence Project, which was planned by the United States ofAmerica, was the pact between Turkey and Pakistan. In respect to this project, Iraqsigned the Baghdad Pact with Turkey. With the Baghdad Pact, Britain tried tostrengthen their activities which were weaken in the Middle East.This study, except the indroduction and conclusion, consists of three parts.The first part examines the events in the Middle East after the Second World War. Inthe second part, Britain?s defence projects for the Middle East are surveyed. Finallythe third part describes the American?s concept of the Northern Tier Defence Project.Key Words: Turkey, United States of America, Britain, Egypt, Pakistan,Iraq, Middle East..