Iran and Turkey's 500-year 'balanced rivalry'

By A. Humeyra Atilgan

ISTANBUL

Five hundred years ago tomorrow, the armies of the Ottoman Empire and the Shitte Muslim Safavids met on the battlefield in northwestern Persia. The victory of the more numerous and better-supplied Ottomans created a new border which has seen relative stability between the Sunni and Shiite successor states, Turkey and Iran.

In stark contrast, subsequent waves of violence and division have swept those Middle East states whose boundaries were influenced by 20th century imperial powers – such as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

The Battle of Chaldiran was fought in 1514 and is “significant in that it underlies the competition and cooperation-based nature of today's Turkey-Iran relations," says Bilgehan Alagoz from the Institute of Middle East Studies at Turkey’s Marmara University.

Brandon Friedman, a researcher at Moshe Dayan Center of Tel Aviv University told the Anadolu Agency that "Turkey and Iran have a sense of pre-modern ‘stateness’ that is different than Lebanon, Iraq, or even Syria," all of which experience chronic instability and wars with their neighbors.

This instability in Iraq escalated in early June after a coalition of armed groups linked to the Islamic State rebel group took control of large swathes of the country's predominantly Sunni provinces.

Armed groups linked to the Islamic State have increased violence in the region in fierce clashes with Kurdish and Iraqi government forces, prompting thousands of minority citizens – such as Christians and Ezidis – to cross the border to escape.

In neighboring Syria, more than 160,000 people have died in three years of civil war that has displaced half of the country’s population.

Another is Israel's recent ‘Operation Protective Edge’ on the blockaded Gaza Strip which killed over 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, since July 7.

All these conflicts are, at one point or another, caused by or have resulted in border problems experts say, underlining that the frontiers in the region were drawn with a rule by imperial powers in the early 20th century. 

In contrast, the Turkey-Iran border seems to be the least problematic and is one of the few frontiers in the region which was formed under an agreement - not at the behest of imperial powers.

"The Turkish-Iranian border is not a product of colonialism," Brandon says, adding: "Turkey and Iran have some cultural and religious borders as well."

"Turkey is a Sunni state and Iran is a Shiite state. They have more than three centuries of imperial Turkish-Persian competition between them [and] that is important to take into account."

Pointing to the invisible "border lines" between the two countries, Turkish academic Alagoz said:

"Though culturally very similar to each other, Iran and Turkey are in fact quite different in economic structure, and regime. Turkey is a member of NATO and progressing on becoming a member of the EU while Iran has significant political disputes with the Western world... The control of the Turkish state over economy is decreasing each day, while in Iran the state has tight control over the economy."

However, one leading Turkish businessman, Ali Osman Ulusoy – whose construction, tourism and transportation trade links with Iran stretch back over five decades – believes that economic relations between two countries have been improving.

Underlining "the strong cultural and economic ties dating back at least 500 years", Ulusoy, who has also been the chairman of the Turkey-Iran Business Council for the last 15 years, says Iran and Turkey as “two brother and neighbouring countries” have succeeded in many things despite embargoes from Europe and the U.S.

For the future relations of Turkey-Iran, Ulusoy says he expects more positive agreements in trade where both countries can benefit.

Whether Iran and Turkey will become closer allies is "hard to say" says Brandon from Tel Aviv University.

"If Iran remains isolated from the global economy it is possible. But I think Iran would prefer to build ties elsewhere with more subordinate regional partners."

Turkish academic Ahmet Kasim Han, from Kadir Has University, is not very optimistic. He believes that Turkey and Iran have long been rivals, competing to be the regional leader. "Balanced rivalry" is how he describes relations between two states.

"They will have no problems as long as they hold the balance in relations," Han says, adding that Tehran will swing the balance as the winner and rising power in the Middle East.

These observations fit with Han’s view of the 500-year-old frontier. The border between the two countries was determined by the internal dynamics of both as well as wars and power balances he says.

"However," he adds "there is a common mistake that the border between two states has been without any problems for hundreds of years. It is not really a monument to stability."

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August 22, 2014

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