Tel Aviv Notes 9, no. 9 (May 10, 2015)
Tehran
and Ankara have enjoyed close relations since Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s
ascent to power in 2002, but their character has been substantially
altered by the “Arab Spring” uprisings. The collapse, or near-collapse,
of numerous Arab regimes has created a power vacuum in the region, which
both Ankara and Tehran, the self-defined heirs to the respective
Ottoman and Safavid/Qajar Empires, have sought to fill. Most recently,
Turkey and Iran have found themselves on opposite sides of the conflict
that has erupted in Yemen. Tehran is supporting the upstart (Zaydi)
Shiʿi Houthi militia, while Ankara provides logistical support to the
Sunni Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia to bolster the beleaguered
Yemeni president ʿAbd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Two months ago, Erdoğan declared that “Iran’s efforts to control the region are intolerable.”[1]
In response, at least 65 Iranian MPs demanded that President Hassan
Rouhani cancel Erdoğan’s April state visit to Iran, in light of the
Turkish president’s “careless statements."[2]
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