Turkey and Iran Relations on the Eve of President Gul’s Visit: The Steady Improvement of A Pragmatic Relationship
Turkey and Iran Relations on the Eve of President Gul’s Visit: The Steady Improvement of A Pragmatic Relationship Bayram Sinkaya, ORSAM Middle East Advisor & METU/Atatürk Univ. At a time that “mass movements” have been determining the Middle Eastern agenda and amidst the intensive debates on the whether the the “Turkish Model” or the “Iranian Model” best serve to the Middle East, the presidents of Turkey and Iran are getting ready to come together in Tehran on February 13. Though the leaders will “exchange views” about the critical developments in the region in the summit, the essential agenda of the President Abdullah Gul’s visit to Iran will be primarily about bilateral relations between the two ocuntries. The most important item on the agenda of the Turkish-Iranian relations is economic relations between the two countries that have accelareted in recent years. The political leaders of the countries aimed to increase the volume of bilateral trade to the level of 30 billi...