The Turko-Persian Tandem

 
Richard Javad Heydarian*      Foreign Policy in Focus
 
In a region beset by conflicts, economic insecurity, and intermittent military interventions, two countries have emerged as independent, often assertive, centers of power: Iran and Turkey. Instead of competing for regional dominance – as they did during the Safavid-Ottoman imperial rivalry – these two nation-states are increasingly expanding, and deepening their partnership in multiple dimensions, but mainly in energy investments, trade, and nuclear cooperation.
 
On a more macro-level, the two indigenous powerhouses represent the new face of 21^st century politics, where emerging powers seek to shape the destiny of their region – at the expense of a great power-dominated status quo. A combination of developments in the domestic sphere and not-so-favorable deterioration in the regional security environment has pushed both powers to extend their influence across the Middle East - making Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the most popular men on the Arab Street.

Home to the region’s biggest economies, largest middle classes, and most educated populations, Iran and Turkey represent vibrant societies with huge reservoir of both soft and hard power. Growing cooperation between the two may signal the opening of a new chapter in the Middle Eastern affairs.

Turkish-Iranian Economic Ties Flourish

Saban Kardas   The Jamestown Foundation

Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, paid a four-day state visit to Iran starting on February 13, to discuss ways to further bilateral cooperation. The sheer frequency of such high level mutual visits between the two countries in recent years indicates the growing multi-dimensional ties between Ankara and Tehran. Coupled with the convergence of both countries’ positions on many regional problems, the Turkish-Iranian cooperative relationship in economic and political affairs has been one of the most constant elements in the emerging Middle Eastern geopolitical map which is often fluid and full of uncertainties.

Given Turkey’s involvement in international efforts to find a solution to the diplomatic standoff over Iran’s nuclear program, this issue has occupied a large part of Gul’s agenda. So far, Turkey has objected to the Western policy of pursuing coercive instruments to halt the Iranian nuclear enrichment program which has raised suspicions in the West that Iran might eventually opt to acquire nuclear weapons. Turkey has, instead, operated on the assumption that the Iranian nuclear program was driven by peaceful purposes and advocates a diplomatic solution through dialogue and engagement with Iran, which occasionally pits it against the United States (EDM, June 1, 2010).