How Iran Lost Turkey’s Islamists
Mustafa Akyol explains the deterioration in Turkish-Iranian relations in the past three years, mostly as a result of differences over Syria.
When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad visited Turkey in August 2008, he was warmly welcomed not only by the Turkish government but by groups of Turkish Islamists. Among the latter, many held a positive image of the Islamic Republic as a bold Muslim power that dares to defy the West and supports the Palestinian resistance. When the Ahmedinejad visited the historic Sultanahmed Mosque in Istanbul for his prayers, he was greeted by a sympathetic crowd chanting “Allahu Akbar” and “Mujahid Ahmedinejad.”
However, if Ahmedinejad or other top Iranian official were to visit Turkey these days, they wouldn't be likely to find another love fest. Iran's image has dramatically deteriorated in Turkey over the past two years — and not only among secular Turks, who always disliked the Islamic Republic, but also among Islamic Turks who accuse their eastern neighbor of hypocrisy.
The main reason for this shift is Iran’s policy towards Syria. The majority of Turkey’s Islamic camp — a category that includes both political Islamists and religious conservatives — see the regime of Bashar al-Assad as a brutal tyranny that slaughters its own people. Meanwhile, the same Turks perceive the Syrian opposition as the rightful defender of the oppressed. Iran, by contrast, acts totally against this vision, and gives its full support to the Assad regime while denouncing the Syrian opposition as “terrorists.”
Moreover, many Turks believe that although Turkey has gone out of its way to help Iran in regards to the West — such as Turkey's “no” vote on sanctions against Iran at the United Nations Security Council in May 2010 — Ankara has received only enmity from Tehran of late.
