Here we have a stamp showing a Pakistani leather vase on a Turkish stamp. At the time, Turkey was in an alliance with Pakistan and Iran that sought joint security and coordinated economic development. At least that is what the member states thought. It was really just a cold war containment strategy against Russia concocted and paid for by the USA and Great Britain. To bad it was a scam, the countries involved were into it. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Like the Europa series of joint issue stamps in Europe, CENTO resulted in joint issue annual stamps between 1965 and 1978. They were all jointly issued by Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan and were three stamps with each stamp showing the uniqueness of each country in some area. There was papering over to do. The alliance also included Great Britain and was heavily funded by the USA. Including those two in a five stamp annual issue would have given the game away so the stamps were routed through the economic part of the organization that only included the regional three.
Todays stamp is issue A488, a 250 Kurush stamp issued by Turkey on July 21st,1975. The three stamps that year showed a Turkish porcelain vase, an Iranian ceramic one and this leather one from Pakistan. Each country showed all three under their name. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 95 cents used.
The USA’s strategy for the cold war in the 1950s was one of containment of the Soviet Union where relations with friendly governments in different regions were formalized for joint support. In theory for common defense but really just to prevent communist takeovers. For the area from Turkey to Pakistan, the Baghdad Pact was formed in 1955. Iraq’s membership ended when it’s Monarchy fell in 1958, see https://the-philatelist.com/2020/01/07/iraq-1958-neither-faisal-nor-churchill-would-have-been-happy-where-his-tanks-were-headed/ . and the organization was renamed CENTO, the central treaty organization. This was the idea of the USA but it was not a member itself. The pro Israel lobby in the USA would not allow it. Great Britain therefore sat in and British forces then stationed in Cyprus were committed to it.
The three remaining countries got on well together and increased ties into other areas as seen by the stamps. It did not work as a military organization. Pakistan tried to invoke the joint defense treaty during their war with India in 1965. Containing India wasn’t the idea so not only did the alliance not come to Pakistan’s defense, both the USA and the UK cut off arms shipments. No more Starfighters for dear ally Pakistan.
Britain effectively pulled out of the alliance when Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 and British troops withdrew, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/07/the-british-in-cyprus-again-having-to-stand-between/. The final straw was when the Shah fell in Iran in 1979 and the new Islamic government withdrew. A few months later, the remaining members voted to dissolve CENTO.
There was still interest in economic and development cooperation between Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan. In 1985 they formed a new Economic Cooperation Organization. It’s goal was to form an economic common market among Islamic nations. It never managed to do that but Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan later joined. That was of course after Russia had trouble itself containing.
Well my drink is empty and I may pour another while I admire a vase made of leather by and for Nomads. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.