Jump to content

France–Iraq relations

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
France-Iraq relations
Map indicating locations of France and Iraq

France
Iraq

French–Iraq relationsare the relations betweenFranceandIraq.France played a major role in Iraqi secession from theOttoman Empireand eventual freedom fromBritishcolonial status.The Franco-Iraqi relationship is often defined by conflict and peace, withFrancesupporting Iraq during theIran-Iraq War,supporting intervention in Iraq inOperation Desert Storm,and opposing the2003 U.S. Invasion of Iraq.As of 2004, Iraq maintains an embassy inParis[1]and France maintains an embassy inBaghdadand a consulate general inErbil.[2]

History[edit]

Pre-Independence Iraq[edit]

See also:Sykes–Picot AgreementandFranco-Syrian War

Contemporary Iraqi independence is firmly rooted in thefall of the Ottoman Empire,of which the French, British and Russian forces were certain would come about as a result ofTriple Ententein theMiddle EastduringWorld War I.[3]In response to waning Ottoman cohesion following the war and the signing of theArmistice of Mudros,the powers sought and were gained mandates of former Ottoman territories through theLeague of Nations;France being granted ofLebanon and Syriaand Britain being grantedMesopotamiaandPalestine.However, independence movements in Iraq ultimately reduced British influence in the region to allow for a semi-autonomous state. Other mandated areas experienced similar revolts around the same time, namely Syria, which succeeded in a revolt and established the independentArab Kingdom of Syria.In thewarthat followed, France deposed the revolt-instatedKing Faisal I,whom the British government saw as a popular figurehead that was friendly to the British thanks to prior dealings with the British before World War I. Further, the British believed placing Faisal on the throne would prevent him from returning to fight for his throne in Syria, leading to tension inBritish-French relations.[4]Ultimately, Iraq was granted full independence as theKingdom of Iraqin 1932.

Kingdom of Iraq[edit]

Following the independence of Iraq, France maintained formal relations with the Iraqi Kingdom, even the governments coming in result ofcoup.At the turn of the 1940s, theoccupation of Franceand establishment ofVichy FranceduringWorld War IIforced theFrench government into exile,as well as anotherIraqi couplead to a pro-German regime[5]that put the two governments in conflict. British military operations eventually reestablished theHashemite monarchyin Iraq, which served as the Allied hold to attack Vichy territory in Syria, which was aided by Free France. After the defeat of the Axis, both France and Iraq's exiled governments were reinstated and both joined theUnited Nations.Some years later, the French provided clandestine support against Iraq to Israel during the1948 Arab-Israeli Conflict;not only allowingAir Franceto ship arms, but blocking UK-brokered Swiss arms sales to Iraqi allies in the conflict.[6]Later, conflicts with the Egyptian government over union with Syria, British opposing Kuwaiti inclusion into anArab-Hashemite Federationand growing unrest lead to anothercoupthat deposed the Iraqi monarchy to form anIraqi Republic.

Iraqi Republic[edit]

The later days of the Iraqi Republic saw a new shift in relations with France with the election ofCharles de Gaullein 1958. From a position of unrest following theAlgerian War,de Gaulle sought to re-establish relations with the Arab world.[7]Although France's support ofIsraelwas evident during theSix Day War,de Gaulle found that Algeria was no longer able to be controlled and would need Arab support in the Middle East to retain French status as a global political entity outside that of theUnited States' orSoviet Union's sphere of influence.[8]This period of warming of relations and increased trade would persist even after the fall of the Iraqi Republic in the14 July Revolution,the eventual coup ousting the then generalAbd al-Karim Qasimin theRamadan Revolutionand the Ba'athist seizure of power in the17 July Revolution.[9]

Ba'athist Iraq[edit]

See also:Ba'athist Iraq

After the17 July Revolution,theBa'ath Party of Iraq,under then chairmanAhmed Hassan al-Bakr,attempted to consolidate power and fulfill party principles by removingNasseristsandcommunistsfrom Iraq. This coincided both with the regimes policy against Soviet influence in the party[10]and attempts to woo theIraqi Communist Partyinto acceptance of the Ba'ath regime and theNational Progressive Front,given the ICP's apprehension after the anti-communist stance of the regime in 1963.[11]Further, France was very willing to continue providing for the regime under these circumstances, especially within their own foreign policy centered around Sovietcontainment,stemming from Soviet assistance in theliberation of French Indochinaand assistance to theNorth Koreanregime during theKorean War,a stance embraced by theUnited Statesin the aftermath ofWorld War IIthat other Western nations followed during theCold War.[11]This continued improvement of relations established a precedent of French support for the Iraqi state, which established the sale and lending of weapons in 1975, which would include the sale ofMirage F-1jet fighters,Alouette,Gazelle,PumaandSuper Frelonhelicopters, a share in the future production of theMirage 2000,Exocetmissiles and the training to use said equipment.[12][13][14][15]Additionally, French reliance on Iraqi oil and trade further cemented these relations,[16]affirmed further by the French Defense Ministry being a controlling stake of French trade and export policy based on France's missile superiority in Europe.[17]This supply of military arms, though not initially intended for use in a conflict, ultimately came to use in theIran-Iraq Warfollowing theIranian Revolution,which was initially welcomed by the Iraqi government as the ousting of a British instated Shah, but later came to conflict between pan-Islamic Iranian and pan-Arab Iraqi policy.[18][19]Central Intelligence Agencydocuments detail that Iraq had been pursuingnuclear weaponsas early as 1980, being offered reactors by the Soviets in 1959, with France selling them another two reactors in 1975. However, France's supply of highly enriched uranium came under question when Iraq refused to allow it to be substituted for lower quality uranium insufficient for the development of weapons.[20]An Israeli strikeon the Osirak Nuclear Reactor, which the French had assisted in building, is often referred to as the end of French support of Iraq's nuclear ambitions and Iraqi nuclear capability.[21][22][23]However, France also supported Iraqi chemical weapons programs, among other Western states, including the United States,[24]the Netherlands, Australia, Italy and France, as well as countless private companies within these countries.[25]These weapons were used on civilian populations within Iran, but the war ended with astatus quoceasefire in 1988.[26]Facing mounting debts and social upheaval from the failure of the conflict, Iraq began posturing itself againstKuwait.[27]The resultingIraqi invasion of Kuwaitended in Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, which would in turn result in a coalition response inOperation Desert Stormand theGulf War,of which France committed 18,000 troops.[28]The French involvement in the operation was internally referred to asOpération Daguet,including trade interdiction, air support and medical leasing. The coalition eventually succeeded in ousting Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Though this conflict had little effect on the relationship between Iraq and France, it did deteriorate already harrowedIraq-United States relations,including the stationing anduse of US and coalition airforce in southern Iraqand the passage of theIraq Liberation Act,formalizing US foreign policy to oust Saddam Hussein and the Ba'athists from power. This tension would culminate following the passage of several Security Council resolutions that required non-proliferation of Iraq's nonconventional arms following theGulf War,namely theUnited Nations Special CommissionandInternational Atomic Energy Agency,which the Iraqi government harassed and obstructed[29]until 1998 when all cooperation was severed citing concerns that Americans embedded within the agencies were feeding intelligence to the United States.[30]Later, these claims would turn out to be true.[31]Following theattacks of September 11th, 2001in the United States, a series of allegations of Saddam's relationship toAl-Qaedacame to being,[32]which were used as a means of supplementing prior United States policy to remove the Ba'athists from power before the attacks took place.[33]The United States brought a resolution to the UN Security Council with the intent of doing so,[34]which France not only rejecting the resolution and threatening to use their veto powers against the resolution before it was retracted,[35]but refused to contribute to US coalition efforts afterwards.[36][37]

Republic of Iraq[edit]

In September 2020, French PresidentEmmanuel Macrontravelled to Iraq to assert its "sovereignty", despite regional tensions.[38]He met with PresidentBarham Salih,Prime MinisterMustafa Al-Kadhimiand President of the Kurdistan RegionNechirvan Barzani.[39]

In late August 2021, President Macron attended a regional conference in Baghdad, to which several leaders of countries neighboring Iraq have been invited.[40]However, he mentioned that France would keep troops in Iraq as part ofanti-terrorism operationsin cooperation with the Iraqi government.[41]

Resident diplomatic missions[edit]

  • France has an embassy inBaghdadand a consulate-general inErbil.
  • Iraq has an embassy inParis.
  • Embassy of Iraq in Paris
    Embassy of Iraq in Paris

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Iraqi Embassy to France - Paris".mofamission.gov.iq.Archived fromthe originalon 2018-10-11.Retrieved2018-03-26.
  2. ^"La France en Irak".iq.ambafrance.org(in French).Retrieved2018-03-26.
  3. ^Sicker, Martin (2001).The Middle East in the twentieth century.Westport, Conn.: Praeger.ISBN978-0275968939.OCLC44860930.
  4. ^Vinogradov, Amal (April 1972)."The 1920 Revolt in Iraq Reconsidered:The Role of Tribes in National Politics1".International Journal of Middle East Studies.3(2): 123–139.doi:10.1017/S0020743800024843.ISSN1471-6380.S2CID154324535.
  5. ^Ehrlich, Sarah (2011-06-01)."Memories of Baghdad's 1941 pogrom".BBC News.Retrieved2018-04-09.
  6. ^Zamir, Meir (February 2010). "'Bid' for Altalena: France's Covert Action in the 1948 War in Palestine ".Middle Eastern Studies.3:17–56.doi:10.1080/00263200903432258.S2CID143924379.
  7. ^Bass, Gary J. (2010-03-31)."Opinion | When Israel and France Broke Up".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2018-04-09.
  8. ^"France".sixdaywar.org.Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.Retrieved2018-04-09.
  9. ^"BBC News | DECISION MAKERS AND DIPLOMACY | Iraq: the French connection".news.bbc.co.uk.Retrieved2018-04-09.
  10. ^"Iraq Military Ties Prior to the Iran-Iraq War - Flags, Maps, Economy, History, Climate, Natural Resources, Current Issues, International Agreements, Population, Social Statistics, Political System".photius.Retrieved2018-04-02.
  11. ^abTripp, Charles (2010).A History of Iraq.Cambridge University Press. pp. 189–190.ISBN978-0-521-52900-6.
  12. ^"Iraq - Arms from France".countrystudies.us.Retrieved2018-04-02.
  13. ^Pike, John."The Iran-Iraq War: Struggle Without End".globalsecurity.org.Retrieved2018-04-02.
  14. ^"United States Gulf War Air Power Survey".Weapons, Tactics, and Training and Space Operations.IV.Air Force Historical Research Agency. 1993.
  15. ^King, John (March 2003)."Iran Chamber Society: History of Iran: Arming Iraq: A Chronology of U.S. Involvement".iranchamber.Retrieved2018-04-09.
  16. ^Slavin, Milt Freudenheim and Barbara."THE WORLD IN SUMMARY; In Iran-Iraq War A Bombing Run Down Memory Lane".Retrieved2018-04-02.
  17. ^Payne, Keith (1998).The Missile Technology Control Regime--European Involvement and Compliance Issues 2.System Planning Corporation.
  18. ^"Iran Chamber Society: History of Iran: Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988".iranchamber.Retrieved2018-04-02.
  19. ^Efraim., Karsh (2002).The Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988.Oxford: Osprey Pub.ISBN9781841763712.OCLC48783766.
  20. ^"The Iraqi Nuclear Program: Progress Despite Setbacks"(PDF).Central Intelligence Agency. June 1983.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
  21. ^"Osiraq / Tammuz I".Federation of American Scientists.October 9, 2000.Retrieved2018-04-09.
  22. ^Reiter, Dan (July 2005)."Preventive Attacks Against Nuclear Programs and the" Success "at Osiraq"(PDF).Nonproliferation Review.12(2): 355–366.doi:10.1080/10736700500379008.S2CID144450978– via Routledge.
  23. ^Raas, Whitney; Long, Austin (Spring 2007)."Osiraq Redux? Assessing Israeli Capabilities to Destroy Iranian Nuclear Facilities"(PDF).International Security.31(4): 7–33.doi:10.1162/isec.2007.31.4.7.S2CID57560777.
  24. ^"Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran".Foreign Policy.Retrieved2018-04-09.
  25. ^Ibriham Al-Isa, Khalil (December 2003)."Iraqi Scientist Reports on German, Other Help for Iraq Chemical Weapons Program".Al Zaman.
  26. ^Charles, Tripp (2010).A history of Iraq.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 234–235.ISBN9780521529006.OCLC50480288.
  27. ^Simons, G. L. (Geoffrey Leslie) (2004).Iraq: from Sumer to post-Saddam(3rd ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 333.ISBN978-1403917706.OCLC52197654.
  28. ^Crocker III, H. W. (2006).Don't tread on me: a 400-year history of America at war, from Indian fighting to terrorist hunting(1st ed.). New York: Crown Forum. pp.384.ISBN9781400053636.OCLC63705803.
  29. ^Zilinskas, Richard A. (August 1995). "UNSCOM and the UNSCOM Experience in Iraq".Politics and the Life Sciences.14(2): 230–235.doi:10.1017/S0730938400019134.S2CID152072834.
  30. ^Robert., Fisk (2007).The great war for civilisation: the conquest of the Middle East(1st Vintage books ed.). New York: Vintage Books.ISBN9781400075171.OCLC84904295.
  31. ^"Washingtonpost: U.S. Spied on Iraq Via U.N."washingtonpost.Retrieved2018-04-25.
  32. ^Smith, R. Jeffrey (2007-04-06)."Hussein's Prewar Ties To Al-Qaeda Discounted".The Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.Retrieved2018-04-26.
  33. ^"'Building momentum for regime change': Rumsfeld's secret memos ".MSNBC.Retrieved2018-04-26.
  34. ^Administrator."US, Britain and Spain Abandon Resolution".globalpolicy.org.Retrieved2018-04-26.
  35. ^Tagliabue, John (2003-03-06)."France and Russia Ready to Use Veto Against Iraq War".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2018-04-26.
  36. ^"Embassy of France in the US - Situation in Iraq/Persian Gulf".Embassy of France.2003-04-26. Archived fromthe originalon 2006-09-27.Retrieved2018-04-26.
  37. ^Cosgrove-Mather, Bootie (July 15, 2003)."France: No Troops To Iraq".CBS News.Retrieved2018-04-26.
  38. ^"Macron to back Iraq 'sovereignty' on first Baghdad visit".France 24.2 September 2020.
  39. ^"France's Macron reaches Baghdad on first official visit to Iraq".Al Jazeera.2 September 2020.
  40. ^"Iraq hosts regional meeting aimed at easing Mideast tensions".AP News.28 August 2021.
  41. ^"Macron says France will stay in Iraq whatever U.S. decides to do".trust.org.28 August 2021.

Further reading[edit]

  • David Styan,France & Iraq: Oil, Arms and French Policy Making in the Middle East,published by I.B.Tauris, 2006ISBN1-84511-045-5.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=France–Iraq_relations&oldid=1198567870"