Iran and Middle East Studies / İran ve Ortadoğu Çalışmaları

  Key Takeaways -  Artesh, which literally means "army," is a branch of Iran’s armed forces that surpasses the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in both manpower and conventional firepower. - Army’s Pahlavi-era origins, coupled with the fact that many of its senior officers had received training in the US, fostered suspicion among the revolutionaries in terms of its fidelity and in the aftermath of the 1979 Revolution, certain measures were swiftly undertaken to restructure it into a force loyal to the emerging Islamic Republic.   - Established in April 1979 as a militia force tasked with maintaining public order and safeguarding the revolution in its immediate aftermath, the IRGC gradually developed in parallel to Army and eventually came to possess its own ministry, distinct from the Ministry of Defense. -   During the Iran–Iraq War, significant rivalries and tensions emerged between the Army and the IRGC, particularly over issues of command, control, and mi...

Temel Çıkarımlar - Ordu (Erteş), İran silahlı kuvvetleri içinde hem nicelik hem de ateş gücü açısından Devrim Muhafızları Ordusu’ndan (DMO) daha güçlü bir askerî güçtür. - Ordu'nun Pehlevi kökenleri ve o dönemde üst düzey subaylarının çoğunun ABD’de eğitim almış olmaları nedeniyle devrimciler arasında bu ordunun sadakatine yönelik kuşkular oluşmuş ve Ordu'nun İslam Cumhuriyeti rejiminin hizmetinde bir birime dönüştürülmesi için çalışmalar başlatılmıştır. - Devrimden sonra asayişi sağlamak ve devrimi korumak amacıyla Nisan 1979’da milis teşkilatı olarak kurulan DMO, zamanla Ordu’ya paralel olarak teşkilatlanan ve hatta Savunma Bakanlığı’ndan ayrı bir bakanlığa sahip büyük bir askerî güce dönüşmüştür. - İran-Irak Savaşı sırasında kuvvetlerin sevk ve idaresi ile taktikler konusunda Ordu ile DMO arasında ciddi rekabet ve görüş ayrılıkları ortaya çıkmıştır. - Ordu, savaşa silah, teknoloji ve insan gücüne dayanan geleneksel bir yaklaşımla bakarken DMO ideolojik adanmışlık, iman ve şe...

Scope, drivers and manifestations of the realist turn in Turkish foreign policy: a case of delayed strategic adjustment Turkish foreign policy has been on a steep-learning curve since 2015, whereby reliance on hard power has come to undergird its external conduct. Through a levels-of-analysis framework, the article will delineate its meaning, boundaries, and limitations, and problematize how it fits into underlying trends in Turkish foreign policy and security culture. It will argue that while the literature highlights the quest for strategic autonomy, middle power activism, realist turn, and militarization as the main characteristics of the qualitative change, it was the convergence of these longer-term trends and especially the increased propensity to use coercive instruments as part of a realist turn that defined this period. The discussion section will offer a plausible account of the transformation, drawing on insights from neoclassical realism. It will argue that the post-2015 tr...

  AB - İran ilişkileri Avrupa ülkelerinin çoğunun, bilhassa Almanya, Fransa ve İngiltere’nin İran ile geçmişi çok eskilere giden siyasi ve kültürel ilişkileri vardır. Avrupa Topluluğu’nun (AT) kurulmasından sonra üye ülkeler İran ile ilişkilerini ayrı ayrı yürütmüş, AT’nin İran ile kurumsal bir ilişkisi olmamıştır. Ancak AT ülkeleri 1980’lerden itibaren siyasi birlik vizyonu çerçevesinde İran ile ilişkilerinde koordinasyona gitmiştir. 1990’ların başından itibaren Avrupa Birliği (AB) İran ile kurumsal ilişkiler geliştirmiş ve bu ülkeye yönelik olarak görece tutarlı politikalar izlemiştir. AB İran’la angajmana girmiş, bir taraftan ticari ve ekonomik ilişkileri geliştirirken diğer taraftan diyalog mekanizmaları üzerinden İran hükümetinin içeride baskıcı, dışarıda radikal politikalarını ılımlaştırmayı hedeflemiştir. Bu süreçte bazı iniş çıkışlar yaşansa da AB ülkelerinin İran ile siyasi, ekonomik ve kültürel ilişkilerinde önemli ilerlemeler kaydedilmiştir. Ancak 2003 yılından sonra İra...

  This article analyzes the transformation of Turkish foreign policy towards the Middle East during the turbulent years initiated with the Arab Spring. In due course, Turkish policy considerably shifted from proactive engagement with the region in the early 2000s to a bid to leading regional transformation, particularly in the initial years of the Arab Spring. However, the reversal of the Arab Spring increasingly presented a blowback for Türkiye’s regional engagements. The ensuing regional insecurity resulted in a realist turn in Turkish foreign policy, with frequent resort to military instruments and coercive diplomacy. Eventually, regional policies of Türkiye corresponded to the search for de-escalation and normalization within the emerging Middle Eastern order since 2020. The article argues that changing regional dynamics corresponding with domestic conditions influenced and shaped Türkiye’s policies towards the Middle East. Recently, under the impact of the regional-systemic pr...

The independence of the Azerbaijan Republic in October 1991 and the ensuing Azerbaijan-Armenia dispute over Nagorno-­­Karabakh posed a new set of challenges for the Islamic Republic of Iran. One such challenge was that Iran now faced a military conflict between its two neighbours, creating instability adjacent to its borders that eventually turned into a protracted conflict. Although Tehran claimed neutrality,   Azerbaijan blamed Iran for providing tacit support to the Armenians. Another challenge was the ascendance of Abulfaz Elchibey to power in Baku in June 1992, which sparked the so-called threat of pan-Turkism, arguably aimed at the territorial integrity of Iran. Elchibey was an ardent Turkish nationalist who forecasted the downfall of Iran and the “unification of two Azerbaijans” that alarmed Iranian officials about security risks arising from a powerful and independent Azerbaijan. Nonetheless, Baku and Tehran used to have pragmatic relations, particularly after the replaceme...

  After the JDP came to power in Turkey in 2002, much has changed in Turkish foreign policy as well as profound changes in international, After the JDP came to power in Turkey in 2002, much has changed in Turkish foreign policy as well as profound changes in international, regional and domestic contexts surrounding it. Particularly fluctuations in Turkish-Iranian relations in the course of seventeen years have been very puzzling, and complicated, which made it worthy of study. Once, relations between the two states have so improved that some pundits regarded it as an evidence of shift of axis in Turkish foreign policy. Soon later, Ankara and Tehran embroiled in a regional competition that reminded the Ottoman-Safavid rivalry of the 16th century with its strategic and sectarian implications. Later on, they have developed amicable relations. Against this background one may question how could we understand that very dynamic nature of Turkish-Iranian relations? Considering this complic...