PRAGMATIC POLITICS: IRAN, CENTRAL ASIA AND CULTURAL FOREIGN POLICY
Keywords:
Iran, foreign policy, culture, Central Asia.Abstract
Since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Central Asia assumed renewed importance in Iranian foreign policy. The region has played a significant role in Iran’s historical geography, and Persian cultural influence continues to feel in the region today. Iran has sought to present itself as a “status-quo” power in its bilateral and multilateral approaches to Central Asia, something that is in marked contrast to the revolutionary rhetoric highlighted in Western media analyses of its foreign policy. This paper focuses on how Iran has made use of its historical cultural weight in the region to further its influence, something that is evident in its increasing activity in fellow Persian-speaking nations of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. As such, the paper will demonstrate how Iran has sought to present a pragmatic face to the region, one that draws on its own cultural levers as a way of expanding its influence.
Downloads
References
See: E. Herzig, “Iran and Central Asia,” in: Central Asian Security; The International Context, ed. by R. Allison,L. Johnson, Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, 2001, pp. 171-198.
See: O. Roy, The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations, New York University Press, New York, 2009.
See: J.W. Parker, Persian Dreams: Moscow and Tehran since the Fall of the Shah, Potomac Books Inc. Dulles, Vir-ginia, 2009.
See: N. von Maltzahn, The Syria-Iran Axis: Cultural Diplomacy and International Relations in the Middle East,I.B. Tauris, London, New York, 2013.
See website of the ICRO in Ashghabat [http://ashgabat.icro.ir/index.aspx?siteid=162&pageid=5120] (in Persian).
Ibidem.
See: “Turkmen President Visits Iran,” RFE/RL Newsline, 12 March, 2003.
Ibidem.
See: “Diplomat: Iranian Civilization Plays Crucial Role in Global Cultural Development,” Islamic Republic News
Agency (IRNA), 22 April, 2005.
See: Ettelā‘āt-e beynolmelālli (Ettelāʻāt International), 25 July, 2005.
See: “Iran Looks East as Ahmadinejad Heads on Central Asia Tour,” Agence France Presse, 23 July, 2006.
See: “International Day of Nowruz,” available at [http://www.un.org/en/events/nowruzday/].
See: “Iran Hosts International Nowruz Celebrations,” Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), available at [http://english.irib.ir/analysis/commentaries/item/58119-iran-hosts-international-nowruz-celebrations].
See: “President Ahmadinejad to Attend Nowruz Festival in Turkmenistan,” Press TV ( Iran), available at [http://www.
resstv.com/detail/2013/03/20/294528/iran-pres-to-attend-nowruz-festival/].
See website of the ICRO in Bishkek [http://fa.bishkek.icro.ir/index.aspx?siteid=293&pageid=34615] (in Persian).
See: “Kyrgyz President Visits Iran,” Xinhua, 22 December, 2003.
The group has met with Iranian officials to encourage greater cooperation in cultural fields (see, for example: “Iran,
Kyrgyzstan Confer on Expansion of Cultural Ties,” Ettelā‘āt-e beynolmelālli (Ettelāʻāt International), 21 January, 2010).
See: “Kyrgyzstan, Iran Sign Protocol on Archives,” BBC Monitoring Central Asia, 25 February, 2008.
See: “Khayyam’s Quatrains to be Published in Kyrgyz and Russian,” Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB),9 December, 2010, available at [http://english.irib.ir/radioculture/art/persian-literature/item/142824-khayyams-quatrains-to-be-published-in-kyrgyz-and-russian].
See: “Iran to Hold Film Week in Kyrgyzstan,” Press TV, 31 January, 20011, available at [http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/
html].
See website of the ICRO in Bishkek.
See: “Kyrgyz Academic Figure Urges Promotion of Cultural Interactions with Iran,” Fars News Agency, 12 Novem-ber, 2012, and “Iran, Kyrgyzstan Stress Enhancement of Cultural Ties,” Fars News Agency, 5 December, 2012.
See website of the ICRO in Almaty [http://fa.almaty.icro.ir/index.aspx?siteid=203&pageid=26814] (in Persian).
Ibidem.
See: “Iran, Kazakhstan Stress Expansion of Cultural Ties,” Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), 7 April, 2005.
See: “ICRO Head Arrives in Kazakhstan,” ICRO website, 20 August, 2006, available at [http://en.icro.ir/index.aspx ?siteid=257&pageid=11747&newsview=337911].
See: “Kazakhstan Hosting Iranian Art, Culture Show,” Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), 24 December, 2006.
See: “Kazakh, Iranian Leaders Sign Joint Communiqué,” BBC Monitoring Central Asia, 15 October, 2007.
See: “Iran, Kazakhstan Stress Expansion of Cultural Ties.”
See: “General Consulate of Kazakhstan Opened in Gorgan,” Kazakhstan Today, 20 February, 2009, available at [http://ngnews.gazeta.kz/art.asp?aid=290802].
See website of the Iran-Kazakhstan Friendship Association [http://www.irkz.org] (in Persian).
Ibidem.
See website of the ICRO in Tashkent [http://fa.tashkent.icro.ir/index.aspx?siteid=228&pageid=3476] (in Persian).
See: “Iranian Official in Uzbekistan to Hold Talks with Cultural Figures,” Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA),21 August, 2006.
See: “Samarkand Resident Sentenced for Propagating Shi‘ite Islam,” RFE/RL, 21 November, 2013, available at [http://www.rferl.org/content/uzbek-propagating-islam/25175284.html].
See: Sh. Hunter, Iran’s Foreign Policy in the Post-Soviet Era: Resisting the New International Order, Praeger/ABC-CLIO LLC, Santa Barbara, California, 2010.
See website of the ICRO in Tashkent.
Ibidem.
See: M. Atkin, “Tajikistan’s Relations with Iran and Afghanistan,” in: The New Geopolitics of Central Asia and its
Borderlands, ed. by A Banuazizi, M. Weiner, I.B. Tauris, London, 1994, pp. 91-117.
See: M. Mahmoudi, “āsiā markazi va roshd hamkārihāye chand jānebe irān va tājikistān (Central Asia and the Growth of Iran-Tajikistan Multilateral Cooperation),” Motāleʻāt-e āsiā-ye markazi va qafqāz (Central Asia and the Caucasus Review),No. 58, Summer 2007, pp. 7-48.
See: Ibidem.
See website of the ICRO in Dushanbe [http://fa.dushanbe.icro.ir/index.aspx?siteid=185&pageid=7672] (in Persian).
See: M. Mahmoudi, op. cit.
See: S.A. Mowjāni, “gozāresh-e safar-e sādegh kharāzi mʻāvan-e vezārat-e khāreji be tājikestān (Report of Deputy
Foreign Minister Sadegh Kharazi’s Trip to Tajikistan),” majleh-ye didgāhā (Viewpoints Magazine), No. 14, 2000, pp. 30-33.
See: “From Tehran with Love: 100 Weddings in Tajikistan,” Agence France Presse, 23 May, 2005.
See: R. Abdullo, “Iranian Presidents and Iran-Tajik Relations,” Central Asia and Caucasus Journal, Vol. 13, Issue 3,2013, pp. 167-176.
See: B. Clark, “Iranian Foreign Policy Toward Tajikistan and Afghanistan during the Ahmadinejad Presidency:
he Rising Salience of Persian National Identity,” Journal of Central Asian & Caucasian Studies, Vol. 7, Issue 13, 2012,pp. 73-105.
See: “Iranian Embassy Opens Culture Chamber at Tajik University,” BBC Monitoring Central Asia, 7 July, 2006.
See: “Iran Seeks to Gain Influence in Central Asia,” The Star News Service, 27 July, 2006.
See: “Iranian Influence in Tajikistan, Afghanistan,” BBC Monitoring Central Asia, 9 November, 2005.
See: “Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan Probe Closer Economic Ties,” Eurasia Insight, 6 August, 2006, available at [http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav080706.shtml].
See: “Iran Leader Calls for Expansion of Ties among Persian Speaking Countries,” BBC Monitoring Middle East,8 May, 2007.
See: S. Medrea, “Persian-Speaking Union Created by Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan,” Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst,Vol. 10, No. 7, April 2008, pp. 15-17.
See: “Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan Probe Closer Economic Ties.”
See: E. Gaber, “Turkey in the Caucasus and Central Asia: The Post-Soviet Period,” Central Asia and the Caucasus,Vol. 12, Issue 3, 2011, pp. 138-147.
Comments of former senior official at Radio Television Afghanistan, RTA, speaking on condition of anonymity, see:
Persian Language TV Channel Stalled,” Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), 21 April, 2010, available at [http://
wpr.net/report-news/persian-language-tv-channel-stalled]).
See: “Report from Iranian station ‘Radio Khorasan’,” BBC Monitoring Central Asia, 24 March, 2011.
See: S. Medrea, op. cit.
A. Naghibzādeh, “Irān, kānoun-e chand zir-e system-e mateghe-ye” (Iran at the Center of a Regional Subsystem),motāleāt urāsiā-ye markazi (Central Asian Studies), Vol. 2, Issue 5, 2009, pp. 139-152.
See: K. Nourzhanov, “Omnibalancing in Tajikistan’s Foreign Policy: Security-Driven Discourses of Alignment with Iran,” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2012, pp. 363-381.
B. Clark, op. cit.
See: “Hassan Rohani Intends to Deepen Relations with Tajikistan,” The Times of Central Asia, 24 July, 2013.
See: “Safir-e irān dar tājikestān khodāhāfezi kard (Iran’s Ambassador in Tajikistan bids farewell),” moassese-ye motāleāt–e irān va eurāsiā (IRAS) (Institute of Iran and Eurasia Studies), 14 October, 2013, available at [http://www.iras.ir/
dcipzap.t1azz2bcct.html].
See: A. Naghibzādeh, op. cit.
This is a point that has raised hackles in Tehran (see, for example, state-run Press TV’s annoyance with the BBC’s reference to “Tajik Poet Rudaki” in “BBC Distorts Iran’s History,” 16 November, 2007, available at [http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=31295§ionid=351020105]).
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2014 AUTHOR
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
