Anglo-Iraqi Treaty (1930) - Background

Background

During the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I, armed forces of the United Kingdom, fighting for the Allies, defeated the forces of the Ottoman Empire, fighting for the Central Powers. After the war ended, armed forces of the United Kingdom remained in the area that was to become the Kingdom of Iraq. In 1920, after the Ottoman Empire was partitioned, the United Kingdom formally occupied what was to become Iraq under a mandate from the League of Nations. The Kingdom of Iraq began with the coronation of King Faisal I on 23 August 1921. The 1930 treaty provided a path towards nominal independence for Iraq two years later at the termination of the mandate and upon the entry of Iraq itself as a member of the League of Nations. The main purpose of the treaty was to give the British a variety of commercial and military rights within the country after independence in exchange for which Iraq would get nothing. Critics point out that the treaty was not negotiated, but rather dictated to the British-controlled government so as to avoid any possibility of real negotiations with a post-independence government.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was to write that the 1930 treaty provided that the British could maintain air bases near Basra and Habbaniya "in times of peace" and have the right of transit for military forces and supplies "at all times." In addition, Churchill indicated that the treaty would provide "all possible facilities" including the use of railways, rivers, ports, and airways for the passage of armed forces "during times of war."

The treaty gave the British almost unlimited rights to base military forces in Iraq. It further provided for the unconditional and unlimited right of the British to move troops into or through Iraq. In 1941, the terms of the treaty were used to justify a British invasion and occupation of Iraq after a nationalist coup whose leaders had contacts among the axis powers. The British used the terms of the treaty as a basis for an occupation that lasted until end of 1947. As they prepared to depart Iraq, an attempt was made to get the British installed government of Iraq to sign a new military treaty giving the British even more powers than under then 1930 treaty. While the treaty was approved, it never came into effect because of unrest and large demonstrations in Iraq against it.

Critics consider the treaty a document which was nothing more than a cover for the British to permanently limit the independence of Iraq and to give themselves a right to intervene in the internal affairs of Iraq as they pleased. The treaties always revolved around protecting the access to Iraqi oil resources by British companies by giving the British the right of military intervention in the country.