Iran, Turkey and the Arab Revolutions

This writing tries to examine and analyze political and ideological stances adopted by Iran and Turkey towards the recent Arab revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. In fact, the main question is to what extent the Arab revolutions have affected the level of cooperation and disputes between the two states. Certainly Turkey’s Neo-Ottoman policy as new Turkish foreign policy discourse has deeply influenced Ankara-Tehran relations, after the Islamists came to power. That is to say that Turkey’s new foreign policy and its exceptional horizons in the Justice and Development Party’s Islamist strategy have posed new challenges to Iran’s increasing diplomatic activities in the Middle East. From this perspective, This paper argues that Turkey’s Neo-Ottoman discourse towards the recent Arab revolutions in the region has caused tensions between the two countries in the new politico-security settings of the Middle East.

Keywords:

NeoOttomanism , Arab revolutions , Turkey , Islamic Republic of Iran , Middle East , Mediation , Regional Intervention