Tamta Bokuchava - Ilia State University, G. Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies

It has been very hard to predict what is happening in the Middle East since the Arab uprisings first started five years ago. It significantly changed the security environment in the Middle Eastern region, opened the opportunity for the emergence of an independent Greater Kurdistan and realigned the political balance between Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq. Arab Spring has not only highlighted the ideological differences between Turkey and Iran, but also their competitive geopolitical interests throughout the Middle East. With the Syrian civil war erupting over the political survival of the Bashar Assad regime, Turkish-Iranian relations have undergone a significant turn for the worse but despite being on opposite sides in the Syrian conflict, both Iran and Turkey opposed Syrian Kurdish gains. They had an implicit common interest in preventing Syrian Kurds from getting stronger, due to the potential demonstration effect on their own Kurds.

Turkey, Iran, Kurdish question