CENTRAL ASIA IN PRESENT-DAY TURKISH IRANIAN RELATIONS
Keywords:
Iran, Turkey, Central Asia, international relations, geopolitics, interest, balance.Abstract
This article examines the special features, trends, and dynamics of Iranian-Turkish relations in Central Asia (CA) in anticipation of removal of the sanctions from Iran and transformation of the entire international relations system. It analyzes the specifics of Turkey’s current Central Asian approaches and identifies the key external factors that are influencing the development of its relations with the region’s countries from the outside. The author examines the new aspects of Ankara’s Central Asian strategy from this viewpoint, as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran’s (IRI) role in it. The author also stresses the importance of what she considers to be the main factors: Euro-Atlantic (the U.S. and EU) and Eurasian (Russia, China).
The article closes by noting that the increasing pragmatism and rationalism in the present approaches of Turkey and Iran is allowing them to establish balanced and restrained cooperation with the CA countries, keeping in mind their common historical cultural and spiritual heritage, as well as the prospects for potentially mutually advantageous partnership within the framework of the planned New Silk Road energy transportation corridors.
In so doing, Iran or Turkey gaining a stronger position in the current system of relations will depend not only on resolving the current Iranian American and other interstate problems, but also on the efficiency of their regional strategies and the degree to which the CA countries’ interests are observed.
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