During World War II, all of Turkey's neighbours had joined the Axis or the Allies. In the west, Bulgaria was an ally of Nazi Germany, and Greece was occupied by German troops. Dodecanese, including Rhodes was part of Italy. The USSR was a neighbour in the northeast. To the south were Syria, which had joined the Free France; and Iraq, part of the British Empire. To the east, Iran was under joint USSR-British occupation. Turkey, however, managed to maintain its neutral status.