The Military Coup in Iraq in 1936Insights and Perspectives in the British NewspapersA Historical Study

Abstract

Britain has shown increasing interest in news related to Iraqi political affairs since its occupation in 1914. This interest grew with the signing of the first Anglo-Iraqi Treaty in 1922 and the subsequent treaty in 1930 that regulated the political-economic partnership between Britain and Iraq, contributing to Iraq's admission to the League of Nations in 1932.

By the mid-1930s, many Iraqi army officers had become interested in politics and found the army's reputation for suppressing the Assyrian rebellion to be a political asset. The most influential officers were the true nationalists, the Arab nationalists, who inspired many junior officers. They looked to the examples of neighboring Türkiye and Iran, where military dictatorships were thriving. Under the leadership of General Bakr Sidqi, the army seized control of the government in the fall of 1936, and the period of army intervention in politics began. The assassination of Bakr Sidqi marked the collapse of the Bakr Sidqi-Hikmat Suleiman axis and the end of the first coup government in Iraq.

The British press's media attention to Iraqi news intensified following the outbreak of the first military coup in the Middle East, specifically in Iraq. This event was considered the most prominent and dangerous to British interests in the region and Iraq in particular, given its commercial, economic, and political importance.

British newspaper coverage varied in tracking and monitoring the effects of the "surprising" military coup, ranging from opposition to criticism of the policy of the Kurdish General Bakr Sidqi. This variance was clearly evident in some British newspapers' focus on the man's social and military history, including his stance on the Assyrian massacres of 1933.