II. Dünya Savaşından sonra, Batı'nın aktif dış politikasında belirleyici rol oynayan İngiltere, Fransa ve Almanya gibi devletlerin yerini savaştan fazla yıpranmadan çıkan Amerika Birleşik Devletleri aldı. Amerika'ya karşı koyabilecek tek güç ise, Sovyetler Birliğiydi. Bu iki gücün oluşturduğu soğuk savaş, bir süre sonra sıcak çatışmaya dönüştü. Sıcak çatışma alanları ise, önemli petrol yataklarına sahip olan Ortadoğu ve hinterlandındaki ülkelerdi. Soğuk Savaşın getirmiş olduğu sıcak çatışmanın yayılma alanı bir süre sonra Türkiye'yi de doğrudan etkiledi. Türkiye'nin dış politikada, özellikle Orta Doğu coğrafyasında tarihsel ve kültürel varlığını Demokrat Parti iktidarı ile beraber yeniden canlandırmak istedi. Türkiye'nin bu bölgedeki tarihsel ve kültürel bağlantılarına rağmen, Arap öğesinin başatlığı ve bu öğeye uzun süre yabancı olmasından dolayı başarılı politikalar güdemedi. Sonuçta Türkiye global sistem ve ülkeler arası çatışmalar gibi çok sayıda değişkenden etkilendi. Bu durumda Türkiye, hem bölgede etkin rol oynamak durumunda kaldı hem de bölgenin iç sorun ve çatışmalarla dolu girdaplarından uzak durması gerekiyordu. 1950'ler boyunca Türkiye, Orta Doğu'da meydana gelen olayları, NATO açısından değerlendirmeyi ulusal bir politika olarak benimsedi. Türkiye bu dönemde Arap devletlerinde meydana gelen milliyetçi akımlara ve bağımsız politika izleme isteklerini tam olarak anlayamadı. Orta Doğu'da meydana gelen bu yöndeki her girişimi, SSCB'nin Orta Doğu'ya sızması olarak değerlendirdi

After the World War II, countries such as England, France and Germany, which played a decisive role in the active foreign policy of the West, were replaced by the United States of America, which survived the war without much wear. The only power to challenge America was the Soviet Union. The Cold War caused by these two powers soon turned into a hot conflict. The areas of hot conflict included the Middle East with its significant petroleum reserves and hinterland. Before long, Turkey was also directly affected by the expansion of the clash brought about by the Cold War. In foreign policy, Turkey wanted to revive its historical and cultural existence especially in the Middle East with the Democratic Party government. In spite of its historical and cultural ties rooted in the region, Turkey was not able to follow successful policies due to the dominance of the Arab factor and its long aloofness from this fact. Naturally, Turkey was influenced by global system and various variables like international clashes. In such a situation, Turkey both had to play an effective role in the region and keep itself away from the region’s turbulence full of internal problems and conflicts. During the 1950’s, Turkey adopted a national policy in line with that of NATO while evaluating the developments in the Middle East. Turkey could not wholly understand national currents in Arab countries and their desire to follow independent policies during this period. It evaluated every attempt to this effect as an infiltration by the Soviet Union to the Middle East.Directing itself towards the West after the declaration of the Republic, Turkey maintained its relations with the Middle East countries at the lowest level except for the problems of Musul and Hatay, the issues left behind after the Treaty of Lausanne. The visit made by the King of Iraq, Faysal and the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Said to Turkey in July 1931 became a crucial turning point in the development of the relations between Turkey and the Middle East countries. The relations developing with Iraq after this visit and the Sadabat Pact signed in 1937 were a sign of Turkey’s changing outlook on the region as well as a change in its policy to maintain its current position as it is. Yet, the balance of power both in Europe and the Middle East began to shift in this period of time. The increasing immigration by the Jews to the Palestine led to a major upset in the Middle East, triggering nationalism among the Arabs in the subsequent years. As for Europe, while Italy under Mussolini occupied Ethiopia, dealing a serious blow to the existence and dominance of Britain in the Mediterranean, Germany began to violate the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles after Hitler came to power. This situation resulted in a new polarisation in Europe. The new revisionist front formed by Germany and Italy posed a threat to Britain and France. In reaction to this development in Europe, Britain came up with the idea of the Middle East Command so as to maintain its hegemony in the Suez Canal, playing a key role in the protection of its interests in the Middle East. With this project, Britain aimed both to settle its disagreements with Egypt and to ease reactions to its military bases in the region by cooperating with the Middle East countries with the participation of Turkey, a Muslim country. Turkey, on the other hand, wanted to serve as a bridge between the East and West by encouraging Western countries to participate in political developments in the Middle East as much as possible. However, the developments taking place in the region affected Turkey adversely. When Turkey approached Arab countries, its relations with the West worsened. And when its relations with the Western countries improved, the ones with Arab countries severed. But the real problem damaging the relations between Turkey and Arab countries was the recognition of the State of Israel by Turkey. At first, Turkey supported Arab countries, thinking that the State of Israel would be within the sphere of the Soviet influence. Yet, when the US supported Israel’s existence directly, in 1949 Turkey recognized Israel, an ally of the US, and sent a charge d’affairs as well as signing a trade agreement, thus severing its relations with Arab countries. The establishment of the State of Israel officially created a new area of clash and conflict in the geography of the Middle East. Ethnically and religiously different in essence, Israel’s existence was directly perceived as a threat in the Arab world. Moreover, the support of the West for Israel led by the USA and Britain enabled the Soviets to penetrate the Middle East more easily. Gaining strength after a certain time, Israel conflicted with the countries in the region, thus facilitating the Soviets’ affairs there. The open support provided by the USA for Israel shifted the balance to the advantage of Israel and helped the Soviets to make the most of these conflicts. Although Israel’s existence was a serious threat to the Arab countries in the region and the Soviets, it continued to pose a threat only to the existence of the Arab world in the following years. Soon after the establishment of the State of Israel, Arab Nationalism peaked and the Soviet Union benefitted from this in the best way. On the other hand, the USA sought to maintain its existence and strength with mobile politics by collaborating with countries such as Turkey and Pakistan. Ethnical and sectarian differences provoked by America destroyed Arab Nationalism as well as furthering disintegration in the geography of the Middle East. Now the Middle East turned into the very middle of terrorism and clashes. The political and military support produced by the Soviet Union to the Middle East countries caused nationalistic Arabs to be more propagandists. Therefore, the anti-imperialist Arab nationalism emerging with the appearance of Israel and long-lasting Arab-Israeli wars made it easier for the USA and the Soviet Union to gain strength in the Middle East. After a while, these wars were localized as Palestine-Israeli wars rather than the common war of the Arab world. The discourse and sensitivity of Arab nationalism steadily became ineffective. Due to the political process and the milieu of conflict experienced in the Middle East, the states in the region became increasingly dependent on the USA and the Soviet Union. The Palestine problem which turned out to be the single argument bringing the states in the region together instead of Arab nationalism started to be used by the USA and the Soviet Union as an instrument in the struggle for their hegemony and sovereignty in the region. Accordingly, the Palestine issue was no longer an internal problem of the Arab world, instead it turned into a tool employed by super powers to dominate and, therefore, to colonise the region. Arabs no longer made serious attempts to solve this problem; rather, they disintegrated more and more into smaller units, thus facilitating the expansion of the boundaries of the State of Israel in the region. Turkey wanted to play a more active foreign policy in the region with the Democratic Party rising to power. There were important reasons urging Turkey to follow such a policy, one of which was the fact that America was the only choice of Turkey to be able to resist the Soviet expansion in the region despite its cultural and historical ties with the region’s countries. Furthermore, among other important reasons behind Turkey’s move to a more active policy was Turkey’s being an ally of the USA and the West after the World War II and its being NATO’s only gate opening to the Middle East as a Muslim country. During this period, Turkey wanted to maintain its position as an ally of America in the region without damaging its relations with Israel while maintaining its relations with Middle East countries by means of various alliances. The fact that Turkey strived to establish and to develop the Baghdad Pact to this end while improving its relations with Israel, which was against this pact, led to an inconsistency in Turkey’s foreign policy. Although Turkey assumed an active role in the Baghdad Pact, its image was harmed in the face of rising Arab nationalism and Turkey started to be seen as a supporter of Israel and collaborator of the Western imperialism. The zigzagging policies followed by Turkey in the Middle East wee not limited to these. Turkey became one of the first countries to recognize the United Arab Republic uniting Egypt and Syria founded under the leadership of Abdulnasir on Feb 22th, 1958. Further, Turkey also welcomed the decision taken by the governments of Iraq and Jordan to unite and the establishment of the Arab Federation by them. In conclusion, Turkey’s attempts to follow a more active foreign policy in the Middle East between the years 1945-1960 did not bring about the desired results but moved the countries in the region away from itself. Turkey, which did not manage the issues such as the Baghdad Pact, the recognition of the State of Israel, the Suez crisis, developments in Jordan and the Syrian crisis, moved away from this region where it had historical and political ties instead of approaching the countries there and became isolated in its foreign policy concerning this region. In addition, the propagandist attitude of the USA in foreign policy to make the Soviet Union appear extremely aggressive affected Turkey’s policy along with its Middle East policy in part. The anti-communism policy which the USA often referred to in its foreign policy and which employed in the Middle East countries influenced Turkey more than the targeted countries in the region, meaning that Turkey’s policy of the Middle East was formed in accordance with the attitude adopted by the USA. After the Iranian Revolution, America started to use its propagandist attitude in foreign policy as a means of pressure over Sunni Islamic states. This time the USA presented Iran as a threat to the Sunni states. Although Turkey and Iran were two countries with mutual interests, they regarded each other as enemies and could not act in cooperation in issues of their mutual interest.