IRAN-TURKEY ECONOMIC RELATIONS IN 2010-2020 ERA: A LIBERAL INSTITUTIONALISM PERSPECTIVE ASSESSMENT

Özet

Iran and Turkey have had significant interactions in their shared regions due to their historical background, strong statehood tradition, and geopolitical positioning in global affairs. Consequently, the economic relations between both countries have the potential to create positive and crucial interactions in these shared regions. However, achieving this positive outcome requires the establishment of mutual institutional economic cooperation between the two states. The main objective of this study is to examine the economic relations between Iran and Turkey within the theoretical framework of liberal institutionalism during the Justice and Development Party (JDP) or AK Party period from 2010 to 2020. According to this theory, in order to enhance their economic cooperation, states must establish economic collaboration based on three key foundations: transnational cooperation (intra-state domestic affairs and non-state actors), complex interdependence, and international regimes. The primary research question of this study is why the economic relations between Iran and Turkey have remained below their potential capacity during the specified period. Institutional economic cooperation between the two states began in the 1980s. However, due to negative and skeptical-securitized relations, as well as internal crises within each country in the 1980s and 1990s, the initiation and advancement of institutional economic cooperation were hindered. It was not until the 2000s, when the AK Party government came to power in Turkey in 2002, that these relations gained momentum. With the AK Party's rule in Turkey and the positive improvement of intra-state relations between both countries, their economic cooperation gradually entered an institutional path. They engaged in natural gas trade, collaborated on security matters, particularly in combating terrorism, and witnessed a steady increase in bilateral trade. However, this emerging economic institutional relationship experienced fluctuations during the 2010s. Interestingly, between 2010 and 2020, the economic cooperation between both countries alternated between aligning with and deviating from the perspective of liberal institutionalism. These fluctuations primarily occurred at the regional level of their relations. In conclusion, although the economic relations between Iran and Turkey have not yet reached an institutional economic level, it is argued that both states have made efforts to cooperate and centralize their economic relations in bilateral contexts, primarily driv