Let me begin with my opinion on the regime in Iran. The current regime that was established, following the revolution in 1979, is surely much more of a theocracy than a democracy. All the key posts, including the “supreme leader” with vast powers, are controlled by the clergy. The president and the members of Parliament are elected by popular vote, but those who can run for election and the laws passed by the Parliament are all subject to the approval of the clergy. Political and religious rights are seriously restricted. The recent presidential election indicates that when even this sham democracy enables the people of Iran to express their demands for change and greater freedom, the regime does not hesitate to rig the vote and to increase repression to continue its hold on power.I have no doubt that the United States and Britain have a large responsibility in the emergence of the current authoritarian regime in Iran. They helped stage the 1953 military coup that toppled the only democratically elected leader of Iran, Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, who dared to nationalize the oil industry. Following that coup, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a stooge of the US and Britain, established the dictatorial regime that paved the way for the popular revolution in 1979. That revolution, led mostly by the Islamist mullahs, replaced, unfortunately, the dictatorship of the Shah with that of the clergy. The US and Britain, by provoking Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to declare war on Iran in 1980, helped indirectly to strengthen the regime by leading the people of Iran to side with their rulers for patriotic reasons. And the George W. Bush administration in the US, by threatening Iran with regime change like in Iraq, has surely helped the radical Islamists defeat the reformists, who under the leadership of President Mohammad Khatami, might have paved the way for an open society in Iran.
Turkey and Iran are two very different countries. Despite the many military interventions since the introduction of multi-party politics in 1950, Turkey has, in the main, managed to preserve democracy and held 15 free and fair general elections that have often led to peaceful transfers of power between competing parties. Iran, on the other hand, has experienced a free and fair election only once, in 1951, which brought Mosaddeq to power. Despite the fact that both are Muslim-majority nations, Turkey's laws are fully secular, whereas Shariah law rules in Iran. Whereas Sunni Islam in Turkey preaches obedience to, Shia Islam in Iran preaches distrust of political power. Turkey has an open market economy and growing industries, which has helped it become one of the G-20 nations. Iran's economy, on the other hand, is highly dependent on oil and gas exports, making it a victim of the “oil curse.” Turkey is an increasingly free and democratic country negotiating membership with the European Union, whereas the authoritarian rule of the clergy in Iran is not likely to soon give way to a free and democratic regime.
Despite all the differences, the political regimes in Turkey and Iran do have a feature in common. Both have official ideologies incompatible with liberal democracy. Both are based on the notion that people are not competent to govern themselves, but require the guardianship or custody of the Kemalist military and civilian bureaucracy in Turkey and the Islamist clergy in Iran. Whereas the authoritarian state secularism in Turkey forces Muslim women to uncover themselves in schools and public offices, theocracy in Iran forces all women to cover themselves in all contexts. Recent developments in both Turkey and Iran may be signaling the end of the guardianship regimes, while the former seems to be moving towards consolidating a truly liberal democracy. I strongly support establishment of an open society in Iran, but also believe strongly that the liberation of Iran can only be the work of its own people.
I neither applaud nor protest Ankara for extending congratulations to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, officially declared the winner of the recent presidential election. Iran is an important neighbor of Turkey. That obliges Ankara to have good relations with Tehran whoever is in charge, as long as it does not meddle in Turkey's internal affairs, as it used to do in the past. Iran supplies nearly a third of Turkey's energy needs and is an increasingly important market for Turkish industrial goods. About a million Iranians visit Turkey each year and witness what democracy can achieve. Having good relations with Tehran -- whoever is in charge -- is not only in the interest of Turkey, but also of the Western alliance it is part of, because it enables Ankara to facilitate a dialogue between Iran and the West to help overcome the many differences between the two sides. These are the main reasons why Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan makes sense when he says that Ankara is at an equal distance with both the government and opposition in Iran.
