14 November 2009 / ,
In a development that has raised Western eyebrows, relations between Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have lately become almost cozy.
Erdoğan recently dismissed Western anxiety over Iran’s nuclear ambitions as based on “gossip.” Besides, he has implied, if Israel is allowed nuclear weapons, why not Iran? Erdoğan was the first world leader to congratulate Ahmedinejad on his re-election in June, even as demonstrators protesting fraud were being pummeled on the streets of Tehran. The two leaders have met twice this month to sign a raft of energy cooperation and business deals, including a decision to conduct bilateral trade using their own currencies, rather than dollars or Euros. Turkey appears to be strengthening its economic ties with Iran precisely at a moment when Western powers are trying to isolate Tehran and muster support for tougher economic sanctions aimed at limiting Iran’s nuclear program.
