Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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Do we want to turn our backs on<br />
Tehran and seek a conflict or do we<br />
want to maintain neighborly ties with<br />
our eastern neighbor?<br />
Turkey's relation.s with Iran un<strong>de</strong>r the late<br />
shah and after the revolution have always<br />
had their ups and downs. Y<strong>et</strong>, in recent<br />
times the.downs have been more than the '<br />
ups and it is about time the Turkish authorities<br />
got tog<strong>et</strong>her and ch~ed a realistic course.<br />
The late Turgut Ozal had for~ed warm ties<br />
with the Irani~ lea<strong>de</strong>rship <strong>de</strong>spIte his closeness<br />
to the,West and especiapy the United States, the<br />
arch enemy of Tehran. Özal tried hard to mend<br />
, fences b<strong>et</strong>ween the Iranians and the Americans,<br />
but he could not succeed. On the other hand he<br />
always gave friendly advise to the Americans<br />
not to isolate Iran but try to integrate it into the<br />
: international system. ' .-<br />
At the time no one objected to close ties<br />
b<strong>et</strong>ween Ankara and Tehran and Turkey's annual<br />
tra<strong>de</strong> volume with this country reached about<br />
2 billion dollars... '<br />
After Öza1, things have never been the same<br />
,and both si<strong>de</strong>s may well share the blame for this.'<br />
Successive Turkish governments un<strong>de</strong>r Tansu<br />
ÇilleI' paid little attention to Iran as well as other<br />
Islamic countries. There were a series of s<strong>et</strong>backs<br />
in the relations and this too affected the<br />
warmth in the relations.<br />
Iran, for its part, failed to curb Kurdish separatists<br />
using its territory to attack Turkish military<br />
outposts on the bor<strong>de</strong>r and infiltrate into<br />
Turkish soil to attack civilians. '<br />
After Necm<strong>et</strong>tin Erbakan came to power he<br />
s<strong>et</strong> the stage for closer relations with Tehran.<br />
Some felt this was politically motivated y<strong>et</strong> it<br />
later became apparent that Erbakan was driven<br />
to closer ties with Iran because of economic consi<strong>de</strong>rations.<br />
He felt Turkey could boost its<br />
exports by selling goods to Islamic countries .as<br />
our exports to the West had reached a saturatIon<br />
point. He felt Iran, as a neighbor washis best<br />
b<strong>et</strong>. Erbakan also wanted Iranian natural gas,<br />
which would help to narrow the energy gap in<br />
Turkey. .<br />
The Americans never liked this i<strong>de</strong>a because<br />
it hurt U.S. policy of "containing" Iran, which<br />
Washington says is a state which supports terror~<br />
ism.<br />
~~imnalambassador in Tehran and the consul general in<br />
ilnur Çevik<br />
Turkey signed a multibillion-dollar natural<br />
gas <strong>de</strong>al which inclu<strong>de</strong>d the construction of a<br />
pipeline b<strong>et</strong>ween Turkey and Iran and the supply<br />
of Iranian natural gas. The Americans want ,<br />
Turkey to scrap the <strong>de</strong>al and promise to help to<br />
secure other alternative fuel resources... '<br />
Meanwhile, we have heard conflicting views<br />
aired by various Turkish authorities. The government<br />
says,it wants to enhance Turkey's ties<br />
with Iran and is prepared to go as far as possible<br />
to achi~ve this..However, especially the n:üJitary<br />
and other secunty sources are playmg a different<br />
tune.<br />
Can we afford to escalate the tensions<br />
b<strong>et</strong>ween the two countries and win<br />
y<strong>et</strong> another enemy in a region where<br />
we hardly have any friends?<br />
Deputy Chief of Staff General Çevik Bir<br />
called Iran a state which sponsors terrorism, and<br />
said Iran is trying to export anti-secular activity<br />
to Central Asian republics as well as to Turkey<br />
and last, but not least, it is <strong>de</strong>veloping mass<br />
<strong>de</strong>struction weapons and missiles which are a<br />
source of <strong>de</strong>ep concern for Ankara.<br />
The military was already' at odds with Iran<br />
during the recent events in the township of<br />
Sincan near Ankara when some fundamentalist<br />
remarks were ma<strong>de</strong> at a gathering to mark<br />
Jerusalem Day and the Iranian'ambassador<br />
strongly attacked Israel. The military sent tanks<br />
through the stre<strong>et</strong>s of Sincan as a show of force<br />
and <strong>de</strong>man<strong>de</strong>d. that the Iranian ambassador be<br />
told to go home. In the end, the ambassador did<br />
go home and the Istanbul consul general of Iran<br />
hit back at Turkish authorities and furor created<br />
over the Sincan gathering and he tociwas sent<br />
home.' ,_<br />
The comments of Çevik Bir angered Iran and<br />
it hit back at Ankara by telling the Turkish<br />
the Iranian city of Orumieh to leave. The Iranian<br />
consul general in the Turkish eastern provincial<br />
center of Erzurum strongly criticized the military<br />
and he too was asked to leave Turkey. Now<br />
Iran will no doubt expel another Turkish diplomat.<br />
There are rumors that the Iranians may ask<br />
the Turkish military attache in Tehran to leave ... '<br />
, So the inciaent in Sincan has blown into a full<br />
scale storm b<strong>et</strong>ween Iran and Turkey which we<br />
feel is against the vital interests of both si<strong>de</strong>s.<br />
Some people may dislike Iran' s Islamist<br />
regime. Some may talk about historical rivalries<br />
b<strong>et</strong>ween Iran and Turkey. Y<strong>et</strong> Iran is there to<br />
'stay as ,our eastern neighbor and a vital gateway<br />
to Central Asia ... It has a potential of creating<br />
much trouble for us in many ways.<br />
If the Iranians are really sheltering the<br />
Kurdish separatists who launch attacks into<br />
Turkey from this country, then we may well see<br />
an escalation of such attacks in the days to<br />
corne ... The consul generals of Iran in Istanbul<br />
and Erzurum were wrong to attack the military<br />
and interfere in our internal politics. According<br />
to diplomatic norms Turkey was left with no<br />
,choice but to expel these people.<br />
However, there is another si<strong>de</strong> of the coin.<br />
Some people knowingly or unknowingly have<br />
contributed to the escalation of tensions b<strong>et</strong>ween<br />
the two countries without realizing the consequences<br />
to Turkey's vital interests.<br />
Turkey has to g<strong>et</strong> its act tog<strong>et</strong>her. Do we want<br />
to have good peighborly relations with Iran or<br />
are we turning our backs on them? We cannot<br />
believe that some people will want a conflict<br />
with the Iranians ...<br />
The damage has been done and now is the<br />
time to prevent further escalation of the tensions<br />
b<strong>et</strong>ween the two countries and do crisis management.<br />
We know that common sense will prevail.<br />
The Turkish Foreign Ministry as well as<br />
Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Süleyman Demirel have realized the<br />
, mess that has been created and will try to mend<br />
fences in the days to come provi<strong>de</strong>d some people<br />
do not sabotage their efforts in Ankara and in<br />
Tehran ...