Shahram Sabzevari
World Crunch, Jan. 23, 2025
“The Zangezur corridor is a symbol of close and fruitful collaborations between Turkey and Azerbaijan.”
Discreet at first, Turkey is now open in its backing for Syria’s new ruler, Ahmad al-Sharaa, the Islamist rebel whose forces toppled the Iran-backed Bashar al-Assad. Indeed, Assad’s fall is affecting ties between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey, and will in time reveal its negative effects in several areas including how much tax and dues Iranian truckers must pay while transiting Turkey.
Both countries have long had a strategic position in the region. Iran is an “energy corridor,” and Turkey, a crucial bridge linking Asia and central Europe. Their relations have evolved and declined in terms of trust and quality since Iran’s 1979 revolution, with Turkey taking advantage of Iran’s diplomatic and economic isolation in the region and beyond.
Before the revolution, under a modernizing monarchy that enjoyed the West’s apparent confidence, Iran was in many ways in control of the region’s land, air and sea routes including the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea. Its dominance extended as far as the Red Sea, thanks to its friendship with Egypt under President Anwar al-Sadat.
Its regional influence was backed by powerful, generously financed armed forces, whose sharp degradation began amid the tumult of an Islamic revolution that changed Iran’s entire ideological course. Over the past 40 years Iranian decisions, and those of Turkey, have precisely changed this balance of power in Turkey’s favor. ….SOURCE