The Peace on The Horizon - 75 Years after The World War 2 in the Middle East (47)

 

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)

 

(contents)

 

Chapter 2 Global wave – The end of colonial era and the emerging two super powers (9)

 

047 Clash of the East and the West (3/3)

In 1958, METO (Middle East Treaty Organization) was born in the Middle East. METO was referred to as the Baghdad Convention where headquarters were located in the capital of Iraq. Three anti-communism military alliances of NATO, METO and SEATO encircled the USSR. Initially Egypt did not participate in METO. When a socialist revolution was broken out in Iraq, METO moved its headquarter to Ankara in Turkey, and changed the name to CENTO (Central Treaty Organization).

 

 Gamal Abdul Nasser in Egypt who advocated Pan-Arabism or Arab Nationalism did not only join the anti-communist alliance of the United States, but also not descend under the umbrella of the USSR. He deemed that both the US and the USSR were the new type of imperialists. Chinese Prime Minister, Zhou Enlai, Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlar Nehru, Yugoslavian President, Josip Bros Tito, and Indonesian President, Sukarno also shared the same opinion with Nasser. In 1954 Nehru and Zhou presented the Five Principals of Peaceful Coexistence. The Asian - African Conference was held in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955, and declared ten principles on promotion of world peace and cooperation.

 

The ten principles of peace adopted at the Bandung Conference urged the Non-alliance Movements belonging to neither the US nor the USSR under the spirit of anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism and ethnic self-determination. Third World which belonged neither West block nor East block was born. Nasser aimed at making off with the profits between the eastern and western blocks. Third World certified Nasser as a leader of Arab countries. It was the heyday of Nasser. His heyday continued till the Suez war (the second Middle East War) and the formation of the Arab Union with Syria.

 

(To be continued ----)

 

 

Areha Kazuya

(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)