From zero problems with neighbors to zero neighbors without problems : Turkish-Iranian relations before and after the Syrian Crisis

Pieper, MA

Abstract

Turkish-Iranian relations are the product of overlapping tapestries of sometimes competing, and partially converging national identities and interests. It is Turkey’s location at a geopolitical crossroads that informed Turkey’s ‘Zero problems with neighbors’ policy and former foreign minister Davutoğlu’s advocacy for a ‘Strategic Depth’ in Turkey’s foreign and regional policies. Turkey insisted on the principle of non-interference and Iran’s right to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes when the Iranian nuclear dispute turned into a burning international crisis. Turkey has demonstrated an unwillingness to cave in to Western sanctions pressure on Iran when the file was referred to the UN Security Council in 2006, and especially when US unilateral sanctions were imposed on Iran. Credibility in both ‘camps’ made Turkey a good choice to mediate in the nuclear crisis in early 2010. All the same, Turkish-Iranian relations have been undergoing a serious deterioration in the wake of the Syrian civil war that started in 2011, in which both sides supported diametrically opposite causes and factions at first. Turkey was sidelined when the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was negotiated in the summer of 2015. Domestic and external factors after 2015 brought about a shift in Turkish positions which allowed a renewed convergence of interests between Iran and Turkey again. This chapter sheds light on the ambivalent relation between these two states which are pivotal for the construction of any future Middle Eastern security architecture.

Citation

Pieper, M. (2018). From zero problems with neighbors to zero neighbors without problems : Turkish-Iranian relations before and after the Syrian Crisis. In P. O. Amour (Ed.), The Middle East Reloaded : Revolutionary Changes, Power Dynamics, and Regional Rivalries Since the Arab Spring. Academica Press

• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Aug 8, 2018
• Series Title: St. James's Studies in World Affairs
• Book Title: The Middle East Reloaded : Revolutionary Changes, Power Dynamics, and Regional Rivalries Since the Arab Spring
• ISBN: 9781680530704
• Publisher URL: https://www.academicapress.com/node/312
• Related Public URLs: https://www.academicapress.com/node/1