AlMonitor: "Turkey is seeking to become the main trading partner of Iran"

The analytical publication Forbes writes that it is time to lift the anti-Russian sanctions. The reunification of Crimea with Russia took place two years ago, and since then the European and the American community argue what measures should be applied against the Kremlin and in what quantities. However, despite all the international sanctions, Russia has suffered little from the restrictions and, moreover, is not going to abandon its policy in spite of the Western condemnation.

The European Union called on other countries to join the sanctions against Russia last week. The fact is that the EU remains committed to the full implementation of its policy of non-recognition of Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, and requests the member states of NATO to consider similar measures. The leading Asian allies of the USA supported the sanctions, but the majority of countries, such as China, India and Brazil, are extremely loyal to Moscow, believing that cooperation with the Kremlin will be more useful than confrontation.

In Europe, too, not everyone agrees with the imposition of sanctions. For example, Italian officials said that tougher measures against Russia would be impractical and would harm Italy, especially in economic terms. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Cyprus and Greece in this case are on the side of Italy, as the anti-Russian sanctions have worsened the economic situation in these countries significantly during the past two years.

Russian society, in turn, has also felt the effects of the Western sanctions against the country, but this does not affect the rating of President Vladimir Putin, who has great popularity among the population due to a competent domestic and foreign policy. Instead of continuing sanctions, the Western nations should reconsider their policy toward the Kremlin. The fact is that all the actions of the Russian leadership are aimed, first and foremost, at protecting their own interests and borders, which is quite natural against the background of the growing threat posed by international terrorism.

Thus, Europe and the United States should lift the anti-Russian sanctions in order to stop the senseless economic war, which is extremely detrimental to Western society. The West needs to realize that there are several other important international issues, where Moscow's help is urgently needed. We are talking about North Korea, Syria, Afghanistan. Two years after the introduction of the meaningless sanctions, Europe is finally starting to realize that it is time to revive the partnership with Russia and to move on. Brussels and Washington, in turn, have to come to the same conclusion.

The international publication AlMonitor writes about Iranian-Turkish relations. It is obvious that after the visit of the Turkish Prime Minister to Iran on March 4-5th the dynamics of Turkish-Iranian relations are changing. By his visit Ahmet Davutoglu admitted that Turkey is ready to strengthen economic relations and regional cooperation with Iran.

Even before the Arab Spring, the relationship between the states both political as well as economic, was characterized by a lack of clear lines and any ideology. However, after a huge amount of upheaval in the Middle East, in connection with the recent events in Syria, as well as after the deterioration of relations with Russia, the Turkish leadership realized the need for closer relations with Iran, which, in turn, seeks to preserve the status quo, while not changing its foreign policy priorities. Tehran and Ankara have nothing in common in terms of their views on the regional political developments that have been taking place in the last five years. However, after Russia imposed an embargo on Turkish goods, Turkey is seeking to become the main trading partner of Iran.

Being in a strategic impasse in connection with the unsuccessful attempts to influence the situation in Syria, in particular, the issue of the Syrian Kurds, Ankara was forced to change its attitude towards Iran, which in fact, never represented any strategic or economic interest for the Republic of Turkey. Iran, still feeling the effects of the recently lifted international sanctions, is moving towards rapprochement with Turkey, but it makes it clear that the economic cooperation will not affect the regional policy of the state. It is too early to talk about any specific measures aimed at rapprochement between the two countries, but it is clear that the dynamics of the relationship have changed dramatically against the background of the events taking place in the Middle East.