Turkey's Score-Playing Game in the Middle East

Following the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran after the execution of Nimr Baqir al-Nimr and the burning of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Gulf Arab countries allied with Saudi Arabia announced their reactions by cutting political and commercial ties with Iran, and the United Arab Emirates also reduced the level of its relations. Meanwhile, Western countries expressed serious criticism of Saudi Arabia's actions regarding the executions, especially the execution of the leader of the Shia in Saudi Arabia, voicing concerns about escalating tensions in the region and even the impact on the Vienna negotiations scheduled for late January 2016. The UN Secretary-General explicitly described Saudi Arabia's actions as illogical and indescribable. At the same time, the Security Council issued a statement condemning the incident following Saudi Arabia's complaint against Iran regarding the occupation and burning of the embassy, emphasizing the protection of diplomats' lives and political representatives. In this context, Stefan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for resolving the Syrian crisis, is set to travel to Riyadh and then Tehran on Monday to emphasize the necessity of peace in the Middle East and serious participation from the parties involved in the Syrian issue. Following serious and heated movements in the first week of the new calendar year, serious concerns have emerged in the political landscape of the region, which are not devoid of extra-regional peacemaking interventions. Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, emphasized the need for reconciliation between the two important countries, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and warned against escalating existing tensions. Meanwhile, John Kerry has emphasized this in his phone calls with his Iranian and Saudi counterparts, and Russia has also expressed its readiness to mediate in resolving the issue. On Wednesday, Iraq's foreign minister also announced mediation to resolve the Iran-Saudi problem. However, what has drawn attention in the reactions of various countries, especially Iran's neighbors, is the two-faced political behavior of the Turkish government in recent days. The day after the incident of the burning of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Numan Kurtulmuş, the Turkish government's spokesperson, stated that Saudi Arabia, by executing Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, created the necessary ground for unwanted tensions in the region, and considered that country's behavior contrary to human rights standards. A day later, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement explicitly criticizing the Iranian government's negligence in protecting political sites and the lives of political affiliates in Iran, holding the Iranian government accountable for adhering to the Vienna Convention regarding the preservation and respect for the rights of diplomatic and consular members of countries. In this protest, while expressing concern about the current situation in Iran, it emphasized the negative impacts of such behaviors on peace and political stability among countries. Salahuddin Özgündüz, the leader of the Ja'fari Shia in Turkey, pointed to a very sensitive issue. He announced on Tuesday of this week that Saudi Arabia, by executing Sheikh Nimr after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to that country, aimed to create a rift between Iran and Turkey, and the execution of Nimr was intentional to show that Turkey is also on their side. Therefore, Saudi Arabia's behavior is an insult to the Turkish presidency, and Erdoğan has been put in a position of accusation, and the government must clearly state its positions on this matter. In this context, Ahmet Davutoğlu announced a day later that Ankara is willing to mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia to reduce tensions and create reasonable political conditions. All these factors indicate that Turkey has adopted a two-faced policy in its political relations with both Iran and Saudi Arabia in recent days. While Erdoğan created a new page in regional political equations during his visit to Saudi Arabia by signing a joint strategic agreement, it seems that in line with this agreement and the strategic goals of both countries, the issues of the Middle East, especially Syria and Iraq, are of fundamental importance. On the other hand, by insisting that Iran is a factor in escalating negative political competition and sectarian Shiite-Sunni alignments in the region, it somewhat corroborates Riyadh's claims. However, the existence of common economic, political, and security interests between Tehran and Ankara has led them to use different political rhetoric in re-evaluating the justifications for the situation between Iran and Saudi Arabia. It is evident that the duality in Turkey's political behavior has not gone unnoticed by Iranian political officials, and even analysts and political experts have expressed doubts in this regard. Mehmet Şahin, the head of the Turkish Strategic Thought Institute and a faculty member at Gazi University in Ankara, states: 'The emergence of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia has placed the two countries against each other more than anywhere else in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq, and Turkey, despite not needing to be involved in the Shiite-Sunni front, seems to inadvertently align itself with these countries based on its own interests.' He points out that the goals of Iran and its allied countries regarding Syria are contrary to those of Turkey and Saudi Arabia and their allies, adding that 'the existing tensions ahead of the renewed negotiations in Vienna may lead Saudi Arabia and Iran to emphasize their positions even more, and in this context, Turkey will face unwanted diplomatic challenges in choosing which side to take.' He also mentions the current conditions in Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, which will undoubtedly affect Turkey and compel Ankara to make decisions based on these political influences, indicating Ankara's preference for the positions of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, it is believed that the reasons for Ankara's dual policy towards Iran stem from a preference for shared interests. It seems that the Turkish government, believing that disputes between Iran and Saudi Arabia will continue and may alter some existing parameters in political-economic relations in the long term, seeks to occasionally express opinions and messages from outside the fray to find necessary solutions for its resurgence in the Middle East, especially in the Sunni world after the Arab Spring. Such a political preference also arises from a misassessment of issues and the failure to take advantage of opportunities that Turkey has faced based on the theory of political games for some time. A game of scoring points from the crisis conditions!