Iran in Turkey’s Geopolitical Game Plan

Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur | Exclusive to iKurd.net
President of Kurdish American Education Society, Los Angeles.

The cursory coverage of the unrest in Iran by the media does not help to explain and understand the underlying causes of the upheaval in Iran. Historical events have a lot to do with it. One major cause is the historical Persian-Ottoman Rivalry seeking domination of the region. The Ottomans have used Sunni Islam to advance their Pan-Turkic agenda, and the Persians have used Shiite Islam to advance theirs. Due to closer alliance between Turkey and the West, and since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and its anti-West stance, Turkey has managed to have more influence over the Western Policy Makers, particularly here in the United States. The result of this undue influence has been to push the United States towards the possibility of Regime Change using a military approach, as opposed to using strictly diplomatic means.

The West naively pursued such an approach with destructive consequences in lives and properties in the uprisings in Libya, Egypt, and Syria and now it seems maybe next in Iran. Under the cover of regime change pushed by Turkey, whose ulterior motive remains the promotion of its own Turkish agenda, and not the promotion of democracy or peace. A ray of hope is that the West has somewhat realized the Turkish deception and reversed course to undo some of the mistakes they committed at Turkish behest.

Egypt was taken back from the Islamic Brotherhood (Turkish Controlled & Driven School of Ideology under the spiritual leadership of Sheik Yousef Al-Qaradawi who was expelled from Egypt after the removal of President Morsi of the Brotherhood in Egypt, and now living in Qatar, to rally Islam against the West), Libya is disarray and Turkish intentions for Syrian Regime Change by exporting the ISIS/ISIL fighters trained in Turkey to disrupt Syria has backfired. However, because the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the first major Islamic movement that overthrew a pro-Western regime in the Mid-East, including taking American hostages, demonstrated a clear stand against the West, the United States in particular, Iran has become and remains to be a target of regime change by the United States.

This benefits the ulterior goals and motives and is therefore pushed by Turkey. On its own merit, the Iranian minorities >60% of the population in Iran, have their own legitimate history of revolts against the Central Government that has traditionally been controlled by the Persian minority group in Iran. While demands of full rights by the minorities remain legitimate, in the case of one group, the Azeris, who live in East and West Azerbaijan, their cause has become a political tool in the hands of Turkey to put in power a Pro Turkey regime in Tehran. This attempt of regime change was first tried in the 2009 under the cover of the “Green Movement”:

The so called “Green Movement” in Iran in 2009, was orchestrated by Turkey supporting the Azeri population in Tehran to take over the Iranian government (The Azeris have already a strong influence running the Iranian policies). Azeris are a non-Turk (Nordic Medic Tribe, genetically related to the Kurdish, Southern Medic Tribe ), but a Turkified people with about 20% population of Iran living in East and West Azerbaijan with a major concentration in Tehran. They have a great economic power in the Bazar (Tehran Market), who are supported by the Turkish camp, Turkey & Azerbaijan.

With a dissatisfied population about the election results under Ahmadinejad, and deteriorating economic and human rights situation, Mr. Mir Hussein Mousavi an ethnic Azeri, came to represent the 2009 Green Movement who was defeated in that year’s Presidential election. Had Mr.Mousavi been successful, the pro-Turkish Camp Azeris, would have taken over the country to facilitate the completion of the Pan-Turkic Belt (Turkey would have been connected to Turkmenistan and the rest of Turkish States of Central Asia). The Pan-Turkic Belt is the dream of the Turkish government to establish cultural, political and finally economic control in the region by becoming the main highway on the path of the New Silk Road construction by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). With this being Turkey’s Game Plan, it is critical first for the Iranians to understand that it is not the US or Israel that are primarily behind the regime change in Iran, but Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Furthermore, the West, particularly the United States must beware to not be sucked in to being a pawn in Turkey’s game to do the dirty work for them by not portraying the United States and Israel as the direct great threat to Iran, while in reality Turkey and Azerbaijan are the greater threat. Iranians and the West, must wake up to the backstabbing by the Turks whose rivalry with the Iranians go back to the Ottoman-Safavid time compounded by Sunni-Shiite conflicts they have both created to advance their agendas. Not only Iran, but more so, Turkey needs to be changed.

One deceptive tactic used by the “Turkish Azeris in Iran” in 2009 “Green Movement”, was the use of the word “Green” in their uprising (which by the way was in Tehran only), it implied that the protesters were highly educated, advanced, creating green technologies, pro-environment promoting sustainability……..etc….But in reality the “Green” was used because of Prophet Muhammad and Imam Hussein preferred to wear “Green” robes and the Shiite flag during the fight between Yazid and Hussein in Karbala was a green flag. The whole world came to support them because they thought that they were of the former types! But they were wrong. The Turks and the Azeris are back again, let the world be aware and see clear to unforeseen consequences of playing into motives and tactics seen before in the path of history in the Middle East and Asia.

Read Iran in Turkey’s Geopolitical Game Plan – Part I

Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur, the President of Kurdish American Education Society, Los Angeles, U.S.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.