Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visits Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is awaiting the visit of his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday (November 28th) for a Turkey-Iran High-Level Cooperation Council. After that of the Iranian Foreign Minister in Ankara at the beginning of November, this presidential visit comes in the context of the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, which has led to a Turkish-Iranian rapprochement. But while the two neighbours share certain positions in this war, they are not aligned.
The Presidents of Turkey and Iran, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ebrahim Raisi, during a press briefing in Tehran, July 2022. AP - Vahid Salemi
By: RFI Follow
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With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer
While Turkey appears to have played only a marginal role in the Gaza conflict so far, its diplomatic efforts have resulted in increased contacts with one of its most important neighbors: Iran.
The Iranian regime can only welcome President Erdogan's increasingly virulent rhetoric against the Jewish state, which it calls a "terrorist state". Ankara, for its part, is satisfied with Tehran's support for its offer to assume the role of a "guarantor" state in a subsequent settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However, this apparent convergence of views masks important differences. Turkey, as critical as it is of the Israeli offensive, has no plans to cut ties with the Jewish state, which it was the first Muslim country to recognise in 1949 and with which economic relations have always been close despite periods of high tension.
Similarly, there is no question of a break with the West, to which Turkey remains anchored despite its constant search for competing partnerships. Finally, even if Ankara has taken up the cause of Hamas, it is not a question of providing the Palestinian group with support akin to that of Iran, especially military support.
Read alsoU.S. strikes in Iraq on a pro-Iran group: "a relatively significant escalation"
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