Middle East turmoil & the political rise of Iran in the region again
During the past few years things have drastically changed in the Middle East and the whole region has been a major source of trouble and dilemma.
Some countries have been badly affected and indeed split into pieces like in Iraq and now Syria due to religion and to be more specific sectarian fight mainly ignited by Sunni fundamentalist groups such as El Nusra and ISIS.
Now millions and responsible politicians have held their breath and pray a positive and applicable recipe is shaped at the Geneva meetings thus making the road to establishment of peace in the region again possible – although some take this for a remote possibility judging on prevailing factors in regards.
All in all we will see the eventual winners of this scary turmoil in the region when it comes to and end hopefully soon. However anyone not having much to do with politics can observe even at this point that Iran has already gained many advantages/benefits as compared to other countries in the region – Turkey to be in the first place. Iran which suffered from embargos practiced by the western block for a long while has finally broken the chains, restored its international relations with the superpower (hence the western world) and come back to the competition arena to challenge others in of the region and especially Turkey, its long term rival of many centuries.
Regarding the war in Syria, Iran has been a strong strategic ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the start of the uprising against him, while Turkey has been one of his fiercest critics, supporting his opponents and giving refuge to rebel fighters. This in return has consequently put Turkey in an unfavorable situation politically on top of the conflict with Russia due to downing of a Russian jet by Turkish jet fighters etc.
On the contrary, Iran which has pursued a very clever, reasonable and positive strategy has improved its relations with Russia as well as the USA and gained a big advantage over Turkey in regards. Iran no doubt is a major source of attraction for the western world now in terms of immense new business after the lifting of international sanctions this year following a deal with Western powers to curb its nuclear program.
In better and more striking words “Iran has become the biggest economy to rejoin the global trading system since the Soviet Union broke up more than two decades ago” as also expressed by many opinion leaders. We are talking about a country here with 80 million people and some of the world’s biggest oil and gas reserves which is simply why the giant business groups have all focused their attention on this country, now.
On the other hand, Turkey which was the leader country in the Middle East once now faces the situation where it has to mend its relations with all its neighbors – to forget all hostilities recently – and start a sincere and effective co-operation with them, Iran to be in the first place.
Editor, BTT
