Central Treaty Organization
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This article was last edited by Fizzyflapjack (talk | contribs). (Update) |
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| Formation | December 15, 1973 |
|---|---|
| Type | Military alliance and socioeconomic organization |
| Headquarters | Riyadh, Hashemite Arabia |
Membership |
Member states:  Chad Ethiopia Morocco Tajikistan Yemen |
General Secretary | TBD |
Chairman | TBD |
The Central Treaty Organization (CTO or CENTO), and also referred to as the Middle East Treaty Organization or the Baghdad Pact, is a military alliance of seven Middle Eastern countries. It was formed as an anti-communist alliance of Middle Eastern countries in 1973 by Hashemite Arabia, Iran, Iraq, the Trucial States, Hasa, and the Anatolian Republic to counter the Landonist-aligned Syria, Egypt, and Libya. The organization was based on NATO and was supported by Sierra, the United Kingdom, and France as a way of countering the spread of Marxism-Landonism in the region, especially in the wake of the Suez Crisis. During the Arab Cold War its member states were supported by the Anglo-American and European countrie in the form of military equipment, training, and technical assistance. The mutual defense clause of the Baghdad Treaty was invoked once during the War in the Levant that broke out between Syria and Iraq, with CENTO nations providing military assistance to Iraq. Since then CENTO participated in the Syrian Civil War, with its countries supporting the 2004 invasion of Syria.
It has a joint military command center in Qatif, Hasa, and its headquarters and secretariat in Riyadh, Hashemite Arabia. The organization has not expanded in membership since its founding but there have been proposals in the 21st century to expand membership in the alliance to Morocco, Ethiopia, Chad, Yemen, and Tajikistan.
History
The Central Treaty Organization was created with the signing of the Baghdad Treaty in December 1973, in the presence of the monarchs of Hashemite Arabia, Iraq, Iran, the Trucial States, Bahrain, and Hasa, as well as the president of the Anatolian Republic. The Sierran and British foreign ministers were also in attendance. The intended aim of the organization was to defend the existing allies of the capitalist West in the Middle East from the further spread of Marxism-Landonism, following the 1952 Egyptian revolution, the 1963 Libyan coup d'etat, and the 1967 Syrian coup d'etat that brought to power governments aligned with the United Commonwealth and the Landintern. Although the Arab Cold War is considered to have begun in 1952 with the overthrow of the Egyptian monarchy by the Arab Socialist Union, some historians consider the founding of CENTO in 1973 as the start.