Turkey plays both sides in Iran, Saudi conflict
Does Turkey courting Iran and Saudi Arabia simultaneously mean Ankara is moving away from Sunni-based policies?
Ankara is developing a dual-track approach to the Middle East by simultaneously courting bitter rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran to shore up its position in a region that has defied its plans and ambitions to date. Foreign policy experts say this new approach, which they consider to be a “work in progress,” has the potential to make Turkey an influential regional player again if it is allowed to mature.
This new approach has already resulted in a spate of high-level recent visits between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and Turkey and Iran. Turkey remains unhappy, of course, about Tehran’s support for the Bashar al-Assad regime, while Iran is unhappy about Ankara’s support to anti-Assad groups in Syria.
Turkey also remains disgruntled about Saudi Arabia’s support for Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is criticized by Ankara for relentlessly pursuing members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have a personal affinity for members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
But Ankara’s Sunni-based approach to the region and its overt pro-Muslim Brotherhood sympathies provided little in the end other than ruffling the feathers of both Sunni and Shiite powers. Saudi Arabia and Iran, nevertheless, appear keener now to respond to Ankara’s outreach because of the common interests with Turkey that have emerged.
