ABSTRACT
On 16 February 1954, as promised, the Turkish Ambassador to Baghdad informed the Iraqi Prime Minister, Dr Fadhil Jamali, of the proposed TurcoPakistani Agreement, indicating that Iraq’s accession would be welcome. However, within Iraq there was already much opposition to the idea of accession to the Turco-Pakistani Agreement. Official and public opinion was divided. The King, the Crown Prince and Nuri Said, the ex-prime minister, were in favour of accession, but the government was cautious. The Prime Minister was questioned in the Iraqi Chamber of Deputies on 21 February 1954. He denied that there was any joint defence scheme involving Iraq, apart from the Saadabad Pact and the Arab League Collective Security Pact.1
There was, he said, no fresh commitment of any sort on defence matters. When he was asked whether Iraq might in future participate in the TurcoPakistani Agreement, he replied that this might or might not occur; in any event parliament would be consulted.2
