Security Linkage and Crisis-Declining in Iran-Turkey Relations

In recent years, Iran-Turkey relations have experienced different situations from friendship to rivalry and even enmity. The ambivalence has raised various explanations among observers in international relations and foreign policy. This article aims to assess durability of Iran-Turkey relations regardless of their disputes. In other words, the main question here is why Iran and Turkey have not been subject to a long-term tension despite their critical rivalries in recent years. We hypothesize that linkage between securitizing and destabilizing processes affecting both states has obliged them to prevent falling into crisis and welcome cooperation. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: It seems that regional security complex theory could be helpful here. Security complex theory was first sketched out by Barry Buzan. Security complexes address the level of region located between national units and international systems. So, the theory focuses on the regions as the objects of security analysis, and offers an analytical framework for dealing with them. This theory aims to highlight the relative autonomy of regional security relations. In this regard, seven factors including geographical neighborhood, models of amity and enmity, existence of two influential actors, relative independence, security interdependence, cultural-civilizational relationships, and economic relations have been examined in many regions from the Middle East to South and East of Asia. We employed an explanatory method. In the recent century, Iran and Turkey have managed to cope with some crises in their bilateral relations and prevent damages to themselves. This constitutes our dependent variable: Crisis-declining of Iran-Turkey relations. Several factors are involved in this situation, but we think the key factor is security linkage. We extract seven indicators using regional security complex theory based on which we examine the relation between dependent and independent variables. DISCUSSION & DISCUSSION: As it was said above, security linkage between Iran and Turkey discussed in seven sections are as follows: a) Geographical neighborhood: Thanks to their location in the AsianEuropean pathway, Iran and Turkey are subject to similar geographical issues. These similarities include vicinity to Caucasus, accessibility to strategic straits such as Bosporus and Hormuz, direct access to South Asia and South Europe (respectively by Iran and Turkey), subjecting to historically common external threat especially by Russia, and so forth. b) Models of amity and enmity: In this section, problems such as border disputes, ethnical concerns, and historical relations are addressed. In this regard, Kurdish irredentism has unified the two countries’ policymakers. c) Existence of two influential regional actors: A regional security complex comes into effect on the basis of its actors. In this case, every one accepts that Iran and Turkey are two key actors. Both are playing very important roles in the economic and political processes in their surrounding environment. d) Relative independence: The next factor influencing security complex is relative independence in security relations of one region regarding the other. In this framework, there are two joint concerns between Turkey and Iran distinguishing them from other countries in the Middle East and Levant: First, they tend to encounter Kurdish irredentism; second, they oppose radical religious fundamentalism out of their control. e) Security interdependence: The survival of each player within a security complex interacts with the survival of the other players. Accordingly, Iran and Turkey cannot neglect each other in protecting their security.
f) Cultural-civilizational relationships: Iran and Turkey share certain historical political traditions. These traditions, today, constitute a base for a vast linkage between the two nations. For example, their similar literary tradition or life style leads to their intersubjective vicinity. g) Economic relations: Iran and Turkey are among the economic partners of each other experiencing a wide bilateral trade. CONCLUSION & SUGGESTIONS: Findings of the article show that Iran and Turkey avoid deepening mutual tensions due to their belonging to the same security complex.