Iran Review

Mohammad Khajouei
Middle East Studies Expert 

“Iran and Turkey, as islands of stability, are continuing their life and if the region wants to see stability and welfare, all regional countries should cooperate.” These were part of the remarks made by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his recent visit to Tehran in which signs of closeness between Tehran and Ankara could be clearly seen.

The Turkish prime minister was Iran’s special guest from October 26 to 28 heading a high-ranking delegation which included Mohammad Aidin and Zafar Caghlayan, state ministers in culture and industries; Taner Yildiz, minister of energy and natural resources; Ahmad Davoud Ughlu, minister of foreign affairs; Jodat Yilmaz, state minister as well as 20 members of the Turkish parliament and 80 representatives of Turkish private sector.

Relations between Iran and Turkey have seen many ups and downs and now, they have entered a new phase, the most important characteristic of which is convergence under a competitive atmosphere. Political scholars call the current situation double algebraic sum game.

A glance at bilateral relations in the recent years would reveal that although both Iran and Turkey have been trying to increase their regional clout – of course, through various strategies – historical relations, which have been free from tension and based on economic, political, and security cooperation, have provided grounds for further consolidation of those relations.

The most important factor bringing the two countries close together is similar approaches taken by Tehran and Ankara to security and political arrangements in the region. Both in words and deeds, the two countries have constantly underlined the need for regional countries to play their essential role in security arrangements governing the region and prevent further intervention of foreign powers.

Now that both countries are calling for resolution of regional problems through local mechanism, not those introduced by foreign powers, the time is ripe for them to take joint measures in the region. The most important aspect of the recent visit to Tehran by the Turkish prime minister was its economic aspect.

Since Erdogan was accompanied by about 100 representatives of his country’s private sector, it seems that in case of increased sanctions against Iran, Turkey will be ready to make the most of the situation. Turkey and Iran are bent on increasing mutual trade volume to 20 billion dollars by 2011.

After Russia, Iran is the second biggest supplier of natural gas to Turkey. Turkey has announced that the Iranian gas can be sent into the Nabucco pipeline which aims to supply the needed gas to Europe and reduce dependence of the European countries on the Russian gas.

Iran is also the second supplier of oil to Turkey and the latter is a good portal for the entry of Iran into Western energy markets. Therefore, this issue seems to be playing a pivotal role in strategic relations between Tehran and Ankara in the years to come. This will also encourage Turks make more investments in Iran.

Despite shortage of adequate money to make huge foreign investments, Turkey hopes that after normalization of capital market and banking on its foreign financial credits, it would be able to collect about 4 billion dollars to spend on developing two phases of South Pars gas field.

Anyway, economic relations between Tehran and Ankara are on the rise, especially with regard to oil and gas and this will provide the region with a protective umbrella against foreign interventions. In addition, Iran is well aware that Turkey is its portal into Europe and Ankara can also mediate between Tehran and Washington. Turkey, on the other hand, knows that Iran is a good way into the Central Asia while Syria, as Iran’s ally, is the sole passageway for Turkey into the Arab world. Undoubtedly, Iran’s Islamic tendencies are different from those of Turkey. Therefore, Iran’s approach to Islam is different from that of Turkey.

Observers, however, maintain that the difference in attitudes will not lead to profound differences in political relations. Being Islamic states, is the main common ground between the governments in Ankara and Tehran, though each of them pursue their goals according to their own national interests.

Collaboration between Iran and Turkey will provide grounds for more cooperation with other regional states including Iraq, Syria, Caucasian republics and Central Asia.
Strategic cooperation between Iran and Turkey will be very important in shaping a powerful Middle East away from influences of big powers and will be, no doubt, in line with the national interests of both countries.

It seems that although Iran’s relations with Turkey are more solid than with other neighboring countries, to continue those relations, both sides should seriously try to observe each other’s economic interests and adopt supplementary policies to play their roles in the region.