Russia's use of its the veto right in the UN Security Council to achieve its goals in Syria deepened Russian-Turkish contradictions. In the future, the tensions between the two countries will further increase, says an expert on the Middle East, Iranian professor Bahram Amir Ahmadian, in an interview to Diplomacy-Ye Iran.
Turkey's insistent demand to dismiss Assad is turning against Ankara, the expert claims. According to him, Russia ostensibly pushes Turkey into a dead end by its Syrian policy.
According to Bahram Amir Ahmadian, Ankara is plagued by "contradictions with the Syrian president", on one hand, but on the other, the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds from the PKK resumed.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly expressed his anger at Moscow's policy in Syria and accused the Kremlin of insincerity, the newspaper writes.
According to the expert, the Syrian crisis affected the relations between Russia and Turkey in the same way as the Iranian-Turkish relations. However, the safety of Turkey depends indirectly on Syria, with which it shares a common border.
"Of course, the interests of Russia and Turkey in Syria are fundamentally different. Moscow has a strategic military agreement with Damascus, so naturally Russia wishes to retain its positions there and is interested in the preservation of the Assad regime, because if some changes happen, then, most likely, the Russian-Syrian relations will undergo changes", said the Iranian professor.
According to him, at present, the issue is as follows: will the system prevailing in Syria change after the Assad's departure?
"Iran stresses that there is no alternative in Syria to the Assad's regime. The position of Iran differs from that of Turkey and Russia in following issues: Tehran supports the priority of implementing reforms in Syria, and only then it acknowledges the need for a new president in this country. If Assad remains in power, the problems will not be solved, but if this regime is finally overthrown, and the power will be with the Sunnis, the situation would be even more complicated", says Bahram Amir Ahmadian.
The professor believes that the political conflict between Russia and Turkey will affect the economic partnership between the two countries.
"Turkey is making significant investments in Russian economy, especially in Russia's south-western areas, that is in North Caucasus. Turkish business has a particularly strong position on the Russian market.
On the other hand, devoid of its own energy resources, Turkey is seeking to use its geopolitical position and get energy from Central Asia, the Caspian Sea region, the Caucasus and Iran, and deliver it to European countries, thus playing the role of an energy bridge between Europe and Asia.
Such a perspective does not suit Russia which fears that Turkey, with its population approaching 90 million, will be a strong competitor at the regional level in the near future. Russia has many internal problems, and it needs Western technology and solid economic reforms while the situation in Turkey is much more favorable", said the expert.
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
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