Adnan Menderes iktidarının daha ilk yıllarında Türkiye, batının özellikle de ABD'nin desteğini temin etmek amacıyla dış politikasını belirlemiştir. Bu politikaların bir sonucu olarak, bir anlamda Türkiye'ye yüklenen görev üzerine Başbakan Menderes, İslam ülkeleri ile özellikle de Pakistan ve Afganistan ile yakın ilişkiler içerisine girmiştir. Bu doğrultuda hükümet Afganistan ile temasları yoğunlaştırmış, devamında bizzat Menderes'in iştirak edeceği Kâbil ziyareti gündeme gelmiştir. Menderes'in bu ziyareti aslında bir sene önceden planlanmıştı. Temmuz 1955'te Afgan Başbakan Yardımcısı ve Dışişleri Bakanı Serdar Naim Han, Ankara ziyareti sırasında Peştunistan meselesinden doğan Pakistan-Afganistan anlaşmazlığı hakkında temaslarda bulunmuş hatta Menderes ile de konuyu görüşmüştü. Bu görüşmelerin ardından yapılan açıklamada Başbakan Menderes'in iki dost memleket arasında arabuluculuk yapmayı kabul ettiği açıklanmıştı. Daha sonra bu arabuluculuk konusu Pakistan ve Afgan hükümetlerince de kabul edilmiştir. Ancak o tarihten sonra çıkan bazı güçlükler bu teşebbüsü geciktirmiştir. Menderes'in Kâbil ziyaretinde görüşülecek meselelerden biri de Afganistan'ın Bağdat Paktı'na katılması olacaktı. Afgan Dışişleri Bakanı Serdar Naim Han, bir önceki yıl (1955) Türkiye'yi ziyareti esnasında "İçinde bulunduğumuz zorluklar bizi o kadar meşgul ediyor ki bu mevzuda hiçbir şey düşünemedik" demişti. Sonuç olarak Pakistan ile Afganistan arasındaki bu anlaşmazlık devam ettiği müddetçe Afganistan'ın, Bağdat Paktı'na girmesi mümkün olamayacaktı. Bu nedenle Adnan Menderes'in Kâbil ziyareti büyük önem arz etmiştir. Şayet mevcut anlaşmazlık çözümlenirse Afganistan'ın, Bağdat Paktı'nın dışında kalması için ortada hiçbir sebep kalmayacaktı. Pakistan, İran ve Sovyet Rusya ile müşterek sınırları olan Afganistan'ın Bağdat Paktı teşkilatına katılması büyük bir önem arz etmekteydi. Çünkü bu katılım sağlandığı takdirde Kalküta'dan Trakya hudutlarına kadar bir barış alanı kurulmuş olacaktı. Menderes'in Afganistan ziyareti tam bir bayram havasında başlamış, Kâbil'de hava meydanından itibaren Menderes'in ikametine tahsis edilen Gülhane Köşkü'ne kadar bütün yollar iki taraflı hınca hınç halkla dolmuş bulunuyordu. Şehir baştanbaşa Türk ve Afgan bayraklarıyla donatılmıştı. On binlerce Kâbilli Menderes'i durmadan alkışlıyor, "zindabat" diye haykırıyor ve ellerindeki Türk bayraklarını sallıyordu. Kâbilliler, Afganistan hükümet merkezinde bu derece parlak bir karşılamanın ve geniş halk katılımının olduğu başka karşılamanın olmadığını söylenmekteydiler. Gülhane kasrında, 27 Temmuz 1956'da saat 10.00'da başlayan görüşmelerde şu kişiler hazır bulunmuştur: Başbakan Adnan Menderes, Dâhiliye Vekili ve Hariciye Vekâleti Vekili Ethem Menderes, Hariciye Vekâleti Kâtibi Umumisi M. Birgi, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Kâbil Büyükelçisi General Zekai Okan, Hariciye Vekili İkinci Daire Umum Müdürü Orhan Eralp katılmıştır. Afganistan adına ise Başbakan Serdar Davut Han, Başbakan Yardımcısı ve Hariciye Bakanı Serdar Naim, Başbakan

Türkiye has determined its foreign policy especially in order to get the support of America in the first years of Adnan Menderes When he was in power. As a result of these policies, Adnan Menderes got into close relations with the Islamic countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. In line with this, the government made its realtions with Afghanistan much more intense and following this, the visit by Adnan Menders to Kabil came to the fore. Adnan Menderes’in Afganistan Ziyareti ve Bu Ziyaretin Türk Basınında Yansımaları 421 Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 10/1 Winter 2015 The visit that would made by Menderes had actually been planned the year before. The vice President of Afghanistan and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Serdar Naim Han made some negotiations relating to Pakistan-Afghanistan isssue that emerged from Peştunistan and he even talked to Menderes about this issue. In the press speech made after these negotiations, it was revealed that Menderes accepted to be a mediator between these two fraternal countries. Then the subject of this mediation was accepted by Afghanistan and Pakistan governments. However, some problems that emerged delayed it. One ofthe issues that would be negotiated during Menderes’s visit to Kabil would be the participation of Afghanistan in the Baghdad Pact. The year before (1955), “ The problems that we have make us so busy that we can’t focus on this subject.” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Serdar Naim Han. Briefly, as long as the problem between Afghanistan and Pakistan continued, it would not be possible for Afghanistan to participate in the Baghdad Pact. That’s why the visit of Adnan Menderes to Kabil was so important. If the present issue was solved there would be no reason left to exclude Afghanistan from the Baghdad pact. It was crucial for Afghanistan to be the member of Baghdad Pact in that it has common borders with Pakistan, Iran and the Soviet Union because ıf this was realized a peace zone would be formed from Calcuta to Trakya. The visit ofMenderes to Kabil started as if it was a festival, the streets from the Kabil airport to theGülhane Mansion were completely filled with poeple. The city was decorated with Turkish and Afghanistan flags form top to bottom. Thousands of people were applauding and waving the flags in their hands crying “zindabat”. The people in Kabil were saying that they had never seen a meeting ceremony in the center of government in which so many people took part. In the Gülhane Mansion those would participate in the negotiations that would start on 27 July 1956 at 10:00: The Prİme Minister Adnan Menderes, the substitute of Interior and the substitute of Foreign Affairs Ethem Menderes, the General Secretary of Foreign Affairs M. Birgi, the ambasssador of the Turkish Republic in Kabil Zekai Okan, the General Manager in second of the Foreign Affairs Orhan Eralp. On behalf of Afghanistan, the Prime Minister Serdar Davut Han, the Vice Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, then Vice Prime Minister Ali Muhammed, the General Manager of Foreign Politics Abdurrahman Pejvak and the ambassador of Afghanistan in Ankara, Esadullah Seraj. The most irritating problem that Afghanistan complained about was the policy folllowed by America and some Western countries towards the Peştunistan issue. “I formed an idea durin the negotiations with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Of America before my visit to Türkiye that at least America would do its best to help us so that our relations wlth Pakistan could not go worse. I hoped that we reached an agreement on this issue. But it did not prove to be like that. Not only America did this but also it adopted a policy that led to the relations between Pakistan and Afganistan to go worse. America openly declared that it took side with Pakistan relating to Peştunistan in the Sout East Asia Treaty Organisation.” said Naim Han. The Afghan Committee thought that Pakistan follewed a strict policy towards Afghanistan through the support and power it obtained from America. The current governments started to try to keep up with the changes due to the recent changes soon after the 422 Mehmet KÖÇER Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 10/1 Winter 2015 Second World War. While this new World order leads to new power blocks, it has also led to a new process called “ Cold War”. One of the most important charateristics of the period is that it caused most of the nations to rebel against the emperialist countries. Afghanistan which was in the developmental efforts faced with some serious economic problems in this period. It needed a support on a large scale in order to cope with the problems it had. In addition, Afghanistan was only to be able to open the world by means of Pakistan ports due to the fact that it is a land country. Provided that it could establish a peace with Pakistan it could make use of the ports of Pakistan. İt was expected that Türkiye could manage to solve this problem because not only friendly relaitons are important for Türkiye and these two fraternal countries but also it was essential for the world politics. If the the visit of Menderes to Kabil proved to be successful, Türkiye would be able to gain a victory which produce results not only for Afghanistan and Pakistan but also for for a much more independent world. According to the executives of the Foreign Affairs in this period, it would be more advantegous for Afghanistan not to resent Pakistan and have an impartial attitude due to the problem between the two countries but to reach an agreement with its friends and the free world. However, when the events taken from the point of Pakistan, it is seen that the process sounds more complicated because the problems that Afghanistah had with Pakistan had political, military and economic dimensions: Political Dimension: According to Afghan statesmen, the country got into the current situation gradually because America and western countries became indifferent to its political dialogue demands despite its great efforts. Thus the only thing to be done was to follow a way that was to be remain impartail. Military Dimension: Afghanistan seriously worried about Pakistan’s rapid developments with the help of America and western allied forces. As result of these developments, Afghanistan needed to arm itself. İn order to realize this, it made some attempst and sought help from the western countries but it couldn’t manage to get any support it had hoped. It was able to get this support from its northern neighbour, the Soviet Union. Economic Dimension: The closing of the trade corridor in Pakistan by the government to disconnect the connection between Afghanistan and Peştunistan deeply affected Afghanistan. According to Afghanistan their porpose was to blockade Afghanistan in this way. Afghanistan had to find another way in order to transfer its goods and the Soviet Union took place of Pakistan. Moreover, it could find the financila support it needed from the Soviet Union. According to Afghan statesmen, Afghanistan has always adopted a policy with good intention and frienship. That’ why the responsibility that might result from its closing strategy would belong to the countries such as America, some western countries and Pakistan that forced Afgfhanistan to act like that. The sincere expectation of the Turkish Republic is the solution of the problem between the two fraternal countries. Adnan Menderes stated Adnan Menderes’in Afganistan Ziyareti ve Bu Ziyaretin Türk Basınında Yansımaları 423 Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 10/1 Winter 2015 that the ones which attempted to abolish the Bagdad Pact puts their security and independence into risk. The Prime Minister also said that Bagdad Pact not only connect the most imortanr four countries in the Middle- East along with England but also it provided America with an active membership. To sum up, the mutual demands to develop the close relations on an extensive scale were stated as a result of Türkish-Afghan negotiatons. It was revealed that the two countries could determine their own political policy on their own and live with the hope within the framework of United Nations in the common proclamation prepared after the negotiations.