SAADABAD, TREATY OF

   The Treaty of Saadabad was concluded in 1937 between Iran, Turkey, and Iraq. Its main unstated purpose was to harmonize the policies of these three states on the potentially volatile Kurdish issue that overlapped their borders and tempted each to use the Kurds against the others. In so doing, the Treaty of Saadabad adumbrated the Baghdad Pact of 1955. Neither, however, proved ultimately successful. Saadabad was the palace of Reza Shah Pahlavi.