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Turkey vs Iran is *The* Struggle

Reader comment on item: Turkish-Iranian Rivalry on the Rise

Submitted by Samuel Asher (United States), Aug 26, 2011 at 12:53

I believe this is quite understated. The real power play today in the ME is between Turkey and Iran. It was seeded when Turks elected an Islamist government, but for the first few years of the regime, they were only trying to consolidate power (silencing the press, haranguing military officers). In the last couple of years they have clearly become strident. With Israel the major foil, their competition with Iran was primarily "who can be more anti-Israel." Hence, their pro-Hamas policies with the Mavi-Marmara affair.

Now, we are fortunate to have Syria as the foil. Assad has been on Iran's payroll for years, and Turkey wants to dislodge him. The brilliance of their strategy is that to the West, they make it look like Turkey supports the abused and oppressed Syrian people against the tyrant Assad. What a joke!

This is all strategic: control of land, trade, resources, and influence. Turks and Persians are compatibly belligerent. My choice of strategy would then be to encourage that conflict without turning Israel into a common enemy.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (10) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Turkey and Iran, a joint threat to Israel in 2017 [264 words]Michael SJan 4, 2017 11:17235116
This madness in the Middle East! [64 words]zaydesvoxJun 18, 2014 13:13215477
Turkey and Iran are on the same side. [239 words]VBK PartnersOct 22, 2011 19:42190294
Turkey [70 words]Joe Six-PackSep 18, 2011 11:37189388
Mainstream Newspapers in Turkey: 3 Really interesting articles! [198 words]Jack OjalvoAug 27, 2011 15:41188902
Turkey vs Iran is *The* Struggle [174 words]Samuel AsherAug 26, 2011 12:53188867
2Turks and Persians are the least Islamic people in the Near East [99 words]CyrusSep 18, 2011 12:22188867
To Cyrus's comment [96 words]RandomTurkAug 5, 2013 09:23188867
10Just a quote [61 words]Dick McPhersonAug 8, 2011 17:37188210
2Not only aginst Infidels [17 words]Ravi Ranjan Singh Bharat PanthiAug 23, 2011 12:03188210

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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