Pakistan joins the Baghdad Pact

What happened

The Baghdad Pact began as a Pact of Mutual Cooperation signed by Turkey and Iraq on 24 February 1955. Britain joined on 5 April, Pakistan on 23 September and Iran on 3 November 1955^1,2. The pact's short text committed its members to cooperate for their security and defence and left the door open to other states concerned with peace in the region⁵. The Soviet Union protested strongly, calling Iran's accession incompatible with peace and security in the region².

The pact embodied the "northern tier" strategy that Secretary of State Dulles had promoted after his 1953 tour of the Middle East and South Asia. Yet the United States never became a full member: it joined the pact's economic and counter-subversion committees and, in July 1958, agreed to cooperate with members for their security and defence³. NATO's history notes that Washington stayed out for technical reasons connected with its budgeting procedures¹; American wariness of offending Arab states and Israel's supporters also played a part, according to historians⁴.

From Baghdad to Ankara

On 14 July 1958 a military coup in Iraq overthrew the monarchy. The pact's headquarters moved to Ankara in October 1958, Iraq withdrew in March 1959, and on 19 August 1959 the alliance was renamed the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO)¹.

Why it mattered

For Pakistan, membership confirmed its place as a western-aligned state and brought it closer to Turkey and Iran, ties that endured. But like SEATO, CENTO did not offer the support against India that many Pakistanis expected. The organisation was formally dissolved in 1979^1,4.