The establishment of military-backed regimes in Turkey and Iraq by 1980 helped strengthen relations on several core issues, as both governments supported secularist and anti-radical policies, stable borders, and closer ties with the West, needed by Iraq for its conflict with Iran and by Turkey in its desire to join the European Union. During the Iran-Iraq war, Turkey stayed neutral officially and preserved political and economical relations with both countries. However, with the whole Western world, indirectly Turkey supported Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. While Turkey was paying for the petrol with cash, Iraq was buying goods from Turkey by credit loaned from Turkey. That means that Turkey financially supported Iraq during the 1980s.