Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, March 04, 2021
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| Ural Hatemi |
Analyst Ural Hatemi spoke with Voice of America, discussing the historical direction and current situation of Turkey-Iran relations, as well as the expectations of the forces involved in the national movement in Iranian Azerbaijan regarding Turkey.
According to him, "When evaluating the historical direction of these relations, we should focus on the period after Turkey's republican era and the establishment of the Pahlavi state in Iran. The period before that has a different direction. The essence of the issue is different. After the emergence of the nation-state system in these two regions, the relations went through various periods with ups and downs, tensions, and contradictions. There have been times when they moved together, and times when they took opposing positions."
Hatemi explains that although Turkey and Iran maintained relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, many disagreements arose.
"If we look at the period before the Islamic Revolution, in one sentence, there was a proximity between the two countries. In the conditions of the Cold War, both countries aligned with the West against the Soviet Union. After the revolution, this continued to some extent, but major disagreements also emerged. There were disagreements even before the revolution. However, after the revolution, the religious ideology of the Islamic Republic created by Khomeini conflicts with Turkey’s secular system. This is a key reason why Turkey-Iran relations changed compared to the period before the revolution," the analyst says.
Ural Hatemi draws attention to the recent arrests of Iranian agents in Turkey, as well as the tensions between the two countries over Iraq, stating, "In the past, the two countries experienced deeper tensions than the current ones. But especially from Turkey's perspective, we see a rational and pragmatic policy being pursued. This helps the relations to be able to move out of crises, no matter how deep the crisis may be. I attribute this to the logic and rationality of Turkey’s international relations and its relations with Iran. From Iran's perspective, the issue would have deepened and gone in different directions. We saw this after the Karabakh war, when Iran acted in a hysterical manner."
Hatemi emphasizes that the forces belonging to the "South Azerbaijan National Movement" do not have a single view on Turkey-Iran relations and that different perspectives exist.
"I do not see the South Azerbaijan movement and its forces as having a single view on Turkey-Iran relations. Within the movement, there are different opinions about the relations between Iran and Turkey, as well as Turkey's role in the South Azerbaijan issue. There are different ideas and goals. However, some of these are thought without considering Turkey's realities. Some, on the other hand, do not consider global realities after taking Turkey’s realities into account," he added.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
“İran Azərbaycanında Türkiyə-İran münasibətləri ilə əlaqədar fərqli baxışlar var”