چکیده:
What impact has the Syrian crisis had on Iran-Turkey political relations? Some analysts argue that divergence in Iranian and Turkish outlooks and roles played in the Syrian crisis have adversely affected their bilateral relationship. But the authors believe that in spite of the conflict in Iran’s interests and Turkish policies towards Syria, their broader relations in other areas –security and economy- have prevented the rupture of political relations. In this regards, after the nature of the Syrian crisis is briefly described, Turkish foreign policy strategy in the Middle East will be explained. Then, Turkish-Syrian relations prior to the outbreak of the crisis will be analyzed followed by a discussion of Iranian and Turkish foreign policies towards the Syrian crisis and their impact on their mutual relations. The authors will conclude that although the Syrian political crisis has given rise to certain tensions and adverse consequences in their political relations, their bilateral ties have persisted as manifested in high-ranking diplomatic meetings between their political authorities and in ongoing deliberations on important regional issues.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"Despite the fact that the Alawites constitute the core of political power in Syria, many Sunnis are included in the power structure leading to the presence of popular Sunni base for Bashar Assad's government; unlike Egypt and Tunisia, there are consensus and shared interests among the army, security forces and politicians which has resulted in the increased internal strength for Bashar Assad; a large number of Sunnis, including the urban middle class, are seriously concerned about a fundamental upheaval – opting for peaceful change – and moving towards an extremist government; Syria's leadership of the resistance movement against Israeli expansionist policies has consistently boosted the legitimacy of the Ba'ath party and the Syrian government among the Syrian masses.
He argues that Turkey’s geographical location which has placed it at the intersection of cultures and regions including Asia, the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, and Europe would determine the country’s foreign policy dynamisms (CIDOB International Yearbook, 2011, Country Profile: Turkey, 2011: 237).
Within the past months, Turkey has sought to amend its policies towards the developments in Syria with regard for public opinion and the degree of objections in order to prevent the rise of other protest waves (Hajimineh, 2013); Enhancement of Iran's regional status following the Geneva Agreement: Rapprochement between Iran and the United States has led to the undermining of the traditional U.
For instance, a member of Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Seyed Hossein Hosseini Naghavi stated: "The Turkish government bears the main responsibility regarding these bombings, because it explicitly speaks of arming and sponsoring paramilitary groups acting in Syria" (Resalat Newspaper, May 14, 2012)."