Remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi calling Turkey's deployment of NATO-sponsored Patriot missiles on the Syrian border a provocation toward large-scale war have brought a new dimension to a widening rift in relations between Turkey and Iran, say Turkish analysts.


Sour relations between the two regional powers have become more visible over the past year due to a number of issues including opposing stances on the 21-month Syrian crisis, the installation of a NATO early warning radar station in Malatya in November 2011 and most recently the deployment of Patriot missiles to the Turkish-Syrian border. Turkey has since been chastised on a number of occasions by top-level Iranian military and political officials, who say Turkey is playing with fire and increasing chances for an attack on itself, due to misguided foreign policy choices.

After a number of threatening remarks to Turkey made by top Iranian military commanders and high-level officials in the recent past, Foreign Minister Salehi had earlier reiterated the line that Turkey should only take the remarks from Iran's top religious cleric Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and from himself. Salehi previously deemed the remarks by other officials as �personal opinion,� not having any relation with Iran's official foreign policy.

Salehi's own remarks on Sunday, in which he denied that the deployment of NATO's Patriot missiles would be �instrumental to the security and stability in the region� and deemed the move a provocation, represent the first �official� warning targeting Turkey in that sense.

�The deployment of Patriot missiles on Turkish soil has been perceived by Iran as a direct threat. Iran thinks that after this point, a potential military attack on Syria would be led from Turkey. The decision to deploy the missiles has brought the already strained Turkish-Iranian relations to a new low,� said S�leyman Elik, a professor of international relations at ?stanbul's Medeniyet University, in a phone interview with Today's Zaman.

Elik believes Salehi's warning symbolizes a sharpening of Iran's tone in terms of threats over Ankara's foreign policies.

�Any attack on Syria would result in an Iranian reprisal on Turkey,� Elik claimed.

The Iranian foreign minister's remarks come as a surprise as Turkish officials have become accustomed to the traditional explanation from Iranian authorities regarding warnings of the kind. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an stated in late November, in response to a similar warning from an Iranian military official over Turkey's Patriot deployment, �When we consult Iran diplomatically on such remarks, their response is familiar.� Referring to the previous Iranian line that such comments directed at Turkey were only personal views, Erdo?an said at that time that he could �guess their response before they make it.�

Tensions between Turkey and Iran have risen over Syria. Iran has been a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad throughout the nearly two-year uprising against his rule, while Turkey has been one of his fiercest critics and has offered support to opposition forces, including refuge for military defectors.

Despite the tensions, Turkey, which is heavily dependent on imported energy, relies on oil and gas sold by Iran, which has continued largely unhindered by the divergence in foreign policy between the two countries.

Syria has for long been the only ally of Iran among the Arab nations due to an alliance against Saddam Hussein's former rule in Iraq and their coordination against the US and Israel in the region. Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Iran forged strong ties with the Assad regime, which provided the country a transit route by which to reach out to Lebanese ally Hezbollah and maintain a stalemate with Israel. The two countries brought an official platform to their close military relations through the signing of a military cooperation agreement in 2006.

Turkey asked NATO for the Patriot missile system, designed to intercept aircraft and missiles within a certain range, in November to help bolster its border security after repeated episodes of gunfire and shells from Syria spilling into Turkish territory.

Salehi's criticism came on a day when Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cancelled his trip to Turkey.

Ahmadinejad had been invited by the Turkish prime minister to the central city of Konya on Monday for an annual ceremony marking the death of Rumi, the 13th century Sufi mystic.

On Saturday, Iran's army chief of staff Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi also warned NATO that stationing Patriot missiles on Turkey's border with Syria was setting the stage for world war.

Firouzabadi called on the Western military alliance to reverse its decision to deploy the defense system.

"Each one of these Patriots is a black mark on the world map and is meant to cause a world war," Firouzabadi said, according to the ISNA. "They are making plans for a world war, and this is very dangerous for the future of humanity and for the future of Europe itself."

Adm. James Stavridis, an American serving as NATO's military commander, said on Friday the alliance was deploying the anti-missile system along Syria's northern frontier because Assad's forces had fired Scud missiles that landed near Turkish territory.

By Todays Zaman

 

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