Turkish-Iranian Competition after the Arab Spring

摘要

At a first glance, Turkey and Iran, two of the Middle East's most powerful neighbouring states, are on opposite sides of a bloody civil war in Syria where the protagonists are determined to fight it to the bitter end. The two countries are also jockeying for influence in oil-rich Iraq where Sunni-Shia and Arab-Kurdish divisions make for an unstable mix. It is thus understandable that this rivalry has been the focus of much commentary, but competition is not novel to these countries, and the intensity of their current rivalry may be exaggerated.