Iran and Middle East Studies / İran ve Orta Doğu Çalışmaları

  1. Introduction Globalization has deepened complexity in international politics by diffusing power, multiplying the number of actors, and creating interdependencies among actors across various issue areas and regions. While states pursue multiple agendas, external and domestic issues have become increasingly entangled. The widening complexity in international politics has given way to puzzling patterns and forms of bilateral relations among states, diverging from the conventional and holistic understanding of amity, enmity, or neutrality (Aydinli & Rosenau, 2005). A particularist and compartmentalized approach to foreign relations is also gaining ground, whereby states work with other counterparts in various issue-areas or loci in order to realize mutual gains and mitigate shared concerns. There has been no shortage of scholarly attention to decipher those apparently contradictory foreign policy behaviors by states in this complex, globalized yet transitioning world system. W...

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...

  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...

  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...

Originally published at https://ovipot.hypotheses.org/15688, on March 16, 2021.   In late February, 2021, some news outlets headlined a new ‘ tension ’ between Turkey and Iran. Arguably the crisis had erupted over a statement by Iraj Masjidi, the Iranian ambassador to Bagdad, denouncing Turkish military operations in the north of Iraq as a violation of the sovereignty of the Iraqi government. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Mohammad Farazmand, the Iranian ambassador to Ankara, to declare its distress concerning the ‘baseless’ statement. The Ministry warned the ambassador that rather than standing against Turkey’s fight against terrorism as embodied by the PKK, Iran should lend support to Ankara. In return, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Derya Örs, the Turkish ambassador to Tehran, in order to convey its discomfort at a statement by Süleyman Soylu, the Interior Minister, who talked of the presence of PKK militants on Iranian soil. Despite a backgr...

Türkiye-İran Yakınlaşması ve Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan’ın İran Ziyareti 09.10.207 Ankara ile Tahran arasında son aylarda dikkat çekici bir yakınlaşma var. Bu yakınlaşmada Ortadoğu’da meydana gelişmelerin önemli payı olduğu açık. Arap baharının ardından Türkiye ile İran arasında çeşitli boyutları ile ortaya çıkan rekabet ve bölgesel krizler her iki ülkenin de menfaatlerini olumsuz etkiledi. Özellikle Suriye’de ve Irak’ta yıllardır süren krizler her iki hükümeti bölgesel meselelerin çözümünde işbirliği yapmak ve bölge dışı büyük güçlere itimat etmemek hususunda birleştirdi. Öte yandan bölgede aşırıcılık, terörizm ve mezhepçiliğe karşı mücadele iki ülkenin ortak gündemi oldu. Son aylarda ABD’nin PKK’nın Suriye kolu PYD ile aktif işbirliğine girmesi hem Ankara’yı hem de Tahran’ı rahatsız etti. Suriye meselesi ile ilgili olarak Ocak 2017’de başlayan Astana sürecinde kaydedilen ilerleme, iki ülke ilişkilerinde güven artırıcı bir adım oldu. Son olarak ‘Irak Kürdistan Bölgesi’nde düzenle...

Turkish PM Erdoğan's Visit to Tehran: A New Milestone in Relations Between Turkey and Iran Assist. Prof. Dr. Bayram Sinkaya, Yıldırım Beyazit University IR Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid an official visit to Iran's capital Tehran on 28-29 January 2014. The visit is a new milestone to improve relations between Turkey and Iran which have been in turbulence for various reasons in recent years. In this study, transformation of the Turkey-Iran relations in the context of Erdoğan's visit to Tehran, and potential obstacles before the development of relations between the two countries are discussed.    A Milestone in Bilateral Relations: “High Level Cooperation Council” During his Tehran visit, Turkish PM Erdoğan was accompanied by Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, and Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci. Within the scope of the visit, Erdoğan met with First Vice President Ishaq Jahangi...

ADAM AKADEMİ Sayı 1 Haziran 2011 Başlık :Geçmişten Günümüze Türkiye’nin Ortadoğu Politikası ve Batı Etkisi Yazarlar :BAYRAM SİNKAYA Özet Türkiye’nin Batı bağlantısı uzun bir süre boyunca Ortadoğu ile ilişkilerinin şekillenmesinde değişik açılardan olumlu ya da olumsuz bir biçimde etkili olmuştur. Ancak bu süreç son birkaç yılda tersine dönmeye başlamıştır. Bu yeni dönemde Türkiye’nin Ortadoğu ile ilişkileri öyle bir değişim göstermiştir ki bazı durumlarda Batı ile ilişkilerini olumsuz etkilemeye başlamıştır. Bu durum dikkate alınarak bu makalede Türkiye’nin Ortadoğu politikası ve bu politikada Batının etkisi ele alınmıştır. Batı, Türkiye ve Ortadoğu arasındaki bu karşılıklı etkileşimin anlaşılabilmesi için Türkiye’nin Ortadoğu politikası tarihi, bu üçlü ilişkilerdeki hâkim olan tarza göre belirli dönemlere ayrılmıştır. Makalede Türkiye’nin Batılı ve laik kimliği ile Batı ittifakına sıkı sıkıya bağlı olması nedeniyle bölgede hakim olan dinamiklerle çatışma içine girdiği, dolayıs...