Turkish Foreign Policy toward Iran; Emphasizing on Dual Concepts of Security

This paper aims to answer this main question that how recent Turkish foreign policy toward Iran can be analyzed? In this regard, this paper tries to analyze Turkish foreign policy toward Iran in terms of dual concepts of securitization and desecuritization. In this respect, the hypothesis of this article is that over the recent years, Turkey’s foreign policy towards Iran have been formed based on desecuritization of domestic and foreign issues. Turkey’s internal problems extensively had influenced Turkish foreign policy toward Iran in the past. However, in the first decade of the 21st century, this strategy was transmitted to desecuritization process. In fact, this change in Turkey is a consequence of the process of the country’s accession to the EU and the Justice and Development Party's rise to power, in 2002. Desecuritization has been the dominant trend in the two states’ relations before the Arab revolutions. However, after the Arab revolutions, particularly following the Syrian crisis, there has been a possibility to move from desecuritization to securitization.