Abstract:
This article studies the Justice and Development Party’s new
regional policy, as well as the revision of this policy after Arab
world developments and its impact on Turkish-Iranian relations.
The auther first reviews the principles of Turkey’s new regional
policy and their impacts on the expansion of Turkish-Iranian
relations. Then, the impact of Turkey's way of reaction to the Arab
Revolutions, in particular, that of the Syrian crisis, on Turkish-
Iranian relations will be reviewed. The hypothesis of the article is
that following the Syrian crisis, when Erdogan’s government was
disappointed from receiving Iran’s support in order to topple
Bashar al-Assad regime, it revised its “security and economy drive”
of regional policy fundamentally. Not only did this ideological and
strategic rethinking influence the expanded and developing
relations of Iran and Turkey, but it also created tensions in
bilateral relations. In the end, the author concludes that Erdogan’s
government has turned the Syrian crisis into an opportunity for
changing regional equations and strengthening Turkey’s position.
Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow could increase tensions in the regional
relations of Iran and Turkey and change the balance of power in
the region against Iran.
Machine summary:
"When facing Kurdish nationalism, chronic economic crises, endless disagreements between secular and Jslamist parties, necessity for reducing the role and influence of the army in politics and particularly tensions and disputes with neighbors, the Islamist politicians of AKP had to use different foreign policy principles in order to create a secure domestic and regional environment to achieve their objectives.
The early visit paid by Erdogan and Abdullah GtH to Tunisia, Egypt and Libya in September 2011 and their recommendations for the formation of a government based on Turkish governance model (secular, but none anti-religion) to Arab Islamists could be considered as the reflection of the ideology and doctrine of the foreign policy leaders of the AKP under the new circumstances in which they consider developments in the Middle East as an opportunity for structural rebuilding of the Middle East through transition from life-time pro-west dictatorships to local democracies aligned with Turkey_(t9J Reconsideration in foundations and principles of the regional policy: The third characteristic, indicating a fundamental change in Turkey's regional policy for crisis management in the Arab Middle East is the reconsideration in new foreign policy principles.
Strategic change in traditional West-oriented foreign policy of Turkey, movements towards a multilateral East-oriented approach and the critical positions adopted by Turkey against the stance of the Western powers vis-a-vis nuclear program of Iran as well as the Palestinian issue, all have expanded Turkish-Iranian relations in all political and economic levels from 2002 to 2010 and increased the volume of trade exchanges between the two states from $ 3 billion to $ 16 billion."