Hamid Dorj; Hussein Masoudnia
Abstract
Today, the Syrian crisis has become one of the most important international issues and has attracted the attention of many regional and trans-national actors. The study of the attitudes and interests of Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia regarding this crisis and their attempt to formulate regional equations ...
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Today, the Syrian crisis has become one of the most important international issues and has attracted the attention of many regional and trans-national actors. The study of the attitudes and interests of Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia regarding this crisis and their attempt to formulate regional equations to keep their own interests and their regional allies’, is significant. The main question of the paper is that what approach Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia take and what interests they seek from the developments in Syria? The article's hypothesis is that Iran has been supporting Bashar al-Assad in order to maintain its strategic influence in the region, especially Lebanon. On the other hand, although Turkey initially adopted a subversive approach, it was already supporting the Syrian political system because of concerns about its security and political stability as a result of developments in the Kurdish region of Syria. Saudi Arabia is also pursuing the policy of overthrowing Assad to counter the regional influence of Iran and the expansion of Salafist discourse. Qualitative analysis was used to analyze the data.
Leila- Babakhani Leshkan; Elaheh Koolaee; Ezatollah Ezzati
Abstract
Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Chrono Politics (geopolitics of time) is the concept of time management and the use of geopolitical opportunities. Since 1991, Iran and Turkey have been the bridge of the important areas of the world and this homogeneous geopolitical transformation has led to rivalry ...
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Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Chrono Politics (geopolitics of time) is the concept of time management and the use of geopolitical opportunities. Since 1991, Iran and Turkey have been the bridge of the important areas of the world and this homogeneous geopolitical transformation has led to rivalry of the two countries. Because of the hostile policies of the West, Iran’s position in the region has not been based on the real capabilities. On the other hand, Turkish geopolitics was emerged based on the energy pipelines, and today, Turkey is an energy hub in the region. American hostilities, Iran’s failures in diplomacy and the approach of Turkish leaders, position this country in a distinguished position, despite the lack of energy resources.
East-West strategy (Western Europe, Republic of Azerbaijan, Turkey and the United States) is the Policy of everything without Iran. Because of the hostile policies of the United States and the West, the position of Iran in the region is not based on the real capabilities and Turkey has become the regional power.
2. Theoretical Framework
Geopolitical discourse is about space and time. Now, a shift from Political geography (space policy) to Chrono politics (politics of time) can be noticed. Chrono politics investigates the role of time control in national politics. Croon politic is one of the vital elements of political geography, because at first, policy passes through the time channel. Geopolitics and Chrono politics both meet each other in one point where applied dimensions of geopolitics and Chrono politics are emphasized in political decision-makings. Geopolitics is a combination of politics, power, and the earth, while the subject of Chrono politics is the relations between foreign policy and time.
Chrono politics, in fact, is how elites, intellectuals and officials create structures of power through controlling and distributing time and influencing foreign policy. Hence, Chrono politics in political sciences, especially in world scale, has overtaken geopolitics. Chrono politics is understanding the map of time. Time and space are not two separated phenomena, but they are interconnected. Political geography has to be used in time. Chrono politics is time management which means taking advantage of the geopolitical position and opportunity and not losing time. Cyber space is one of the Chrono politics factors. It does not depend on the territory and land. It considers governments are responsible for foreign and international policies and investigates politics in the form of time.
3. Methodology
This research is a fundamental-theoretical research. The research method is descriptive-analytical. Data is collected based on comparative methodology using the Internet and library sources.
4. Findings and Discussion
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, an intense competition between Iran and Turkey took place because both countries had the opportunity to play as the key political and economic actor in the region. The most fundamental divergent component between them is that Turkey is aligned with the West and the United States and is a member of NATO, and establishes the political, economic and military relations with Israel; hence, it is highly supported by the West while Iran opposes the U.S. and NATO’s policies in the region. Iran does not officially recognize Israel’s existence. Turkey benefits from the geopolitics of energy and Chrono politics of energy in various ways. It has strengthened its political influence in addition to economic exploitation through increasing the number of oil and gas pipelines. The new geopolitics of Turkey was defined after the Cold War and is based on the energy corridors. Europe geopolitical weakness is its dependence on turkey energy, which has reinforced Turkey’s geopolitical potential more than before.
Because of the fundamental difference between Iran’s policy and the geopolitics of America, Turkey does not allow Iran to grow in the area of energy transfer. Americans and Europeans have linked political and economic issues to use safer, easier and cheaper routes out of Iran territory. The weakness of Iran’s foreign policy causes it cannot benefit from its geostrategic position to become the main route of energy transmission between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf regions.
5. Conclusion
Iran doesn’t benefit the Chrono politics of energy, although energy of Iran, both in terms of resources and transmissions, has a unique position compared to its rivals, in particular Turkey; it is the world’s first gas supplier and the third largest supplier of oil; it is located between the two major oil and gas depots in the world (the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea); it is immediate neighboring of Caspian Sea countries; it is Standing beside the world high seas and it is able to transfer simultaneously energy to the West and the East (EU-China and India),. Despite the lack of a common border between Turkey and the Caspian region, Turkey has benefited from this position, due to America’s opposition to energy transmission through Iran. Turkey is stronger than Iran to achieve its national interests and economic development through diplomacy in the region and interaction with the world, even as the Turkish authorities have branded their diplomacy as the diplomacy of pressured pipes.
Three solutions are proposed to solve Iran’s problem:
- To transit the energy pipelines of Iran to Turkmenistan and Turkey.
- To identify common points of regional policy.
- To invest on industries jointly with regional unions, especially in the oil and gas industries.
Adopting passive policies in energy diplomacy can weaken national security and cause regional and global tensions against Iran.
Yashar Zaki; Kiomars Yazdanpanah Dero Yazdanpanah Dero; Gholamali Mostafavi
Abstract
Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
As a Muslim state with a democratically elected national parliament and a political process having admitted and internalized special scope of differences of opinions, Turkey is a suitable place for the assessment of spatial dynamics and convergence of aforementioned ...
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Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
As a Muslim state with a democratically elected national parliament and a political process having admitted and internalized special scope of differences of opinions, Turkey is a suitable place for the assessment of spatial dynamics and convergence of aforementioned relations through electoral geography research. In 2002, untimely elections of Turkish parliament were held in the wake of protest against the senility of the prime minister of the time that led to the resignation of over the half of the MPs. In these elections, the newly founded AKP party became victorious. After the soft coup of Turkish army against Islamist government of Necmettin Erbakan in 28 February 1998 and his resignation known as postmodern coup, AKP party under Receb Tayyib Erdogan which is a branch of Welfare and Virtue Party could get the command of power in Turkey in 2002.
2. Theoretical Framework
"Analysis of overt manifestations of elections and political strategies amongst dynamics of the world of economy" is one of the ways to study electoral elections. By this definition, electoral geography studies the patterns of political elections applied in the structural limits of local knowledge and experience of global forces. Electoral geographers attempt to explain how national and global processes in regional and local spatial location intervene to identify "special regional districts of elections" and analyze "the geography of political responses". Geographers collectively maintain that the voters are simultaneously influenced by the thorough scope of materialist, social and religious experiences, and study the manners in which the reasons converge in different ways and in different places with different historical backgrounds. Moreover, they consider this as important to analyze the patterns of political elections which are in turn the determinant of such issues as the combination of national, regional, and local assemblies.
3. Research Method
From the perspective of methodology, the current study is descriptive-analytic and the method of obtaining data and information is based on the study of available books, articles, and publications in Persian, English, and Turkish. Also, the statistics regarding the elections are obtained by referring to Turkey's Supreme Election Headquarters portal.
4. Findings and Discussions
Politically, the government in Turkey is parliamentary republic and ideologically, it is secular. There are several types of elections such as parliamentary elections, presidential elections, and municipal elections. Parliamentary elections are held every four years to elect 550 members of the parliament by direct votings of people. According to the current electoral system in Turkey, a party should obtain 10 percent of the national votes to win the required seats in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. An untimely election in Turkey in 2002 which is interpreted as the political quake or so-called as “Public Coup by Ballot Boxes” was the onset of the formation of a one-party authoritarian system after 42 years. In this election, AKP quite recently could establish the state with the majority of votes. Lack of trust of voters in coalition government and fluctuation of the parties away from their responsibilities were among the factors affecting the results of the elections in favor of AKP in that run. In this run of elections, AKP achieved the majority of votes from 53 provinces from central and Northern provinces and some parts of the southern provinces. The election of 2007 was held in precocious time due to the dissolution of the cabinet by Erdogan. The reason for that was the annulment of the votes for the representative of the ruling party by the court constitution to run for the 11th Presisdential Election. In this election, AKP was victorious and it could achieve the controlling command of the government, parliament and presidency. The election of 2011 was indicative of the decisive triumph of AKP and the development of secularism. This party could delimit the power of bueacracy which was the ruling power for half a century. Moderative policy of AKP, reconstructing Islamic Identity, domestic reforms, successful foreign policy, economic performance, strengthening of new non-state actors in Turkish political arena, the decline of Kamalist ideology and raising identity crisis in Turkey, and finally the non-corrupt personel of APK party were all the reasons affecting the continuity of its ruling power until 2011.
5. Conclusion
The formation of three regional blocs and the reduction of parties in Turkish Parliament makes one decide that the elections between the years 2002-2011 could be ascribed as “Critical Elections”. The three regional blocs specified in the Electoral Geography of Turkey refer to the probable gaps in the Turkish politics. The first probable gap is the issue of religion. The inhabitants of the coastal provinces voted for CHP just because they thought religions should be kept and practiced as personal. The people living in the central inland provinces voted for AKP just because they thought they should support religion as a factor playing role in people’s social life. The second probable gab might be the gap between the Kurd and the Turk peoples. This is more prevalent in the south-eastern provinces within which Kurdish parties were far successful. The third probable gap is between the regions supporting long-lasting parties in office and regions supporting the new parties or the ones with the slightest opportunities. This is more salient especially where the differences between coastal and inland regions matter. The investigation of above-mentioned parliamentary elections indicates that AKP could establish a one-party government without coalition with other parties. In the three runs, AKP could gain the majority of votes in central Anatolia and regions neighboring the Black Sea. CHP could win the majority votes of the western regions of Marmara, Aegean Sea, and Mediterranean Sea which are mainly industrial places. Kurdish parties also could attain more supporters in the eastern and south-eastern regions.
