TURKIYE- Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna commends on Turkish-Iranian relations. A summary of his column is as follows:
Two weeks ago the terrorist organization PKK opened its third hospital in Urmiye. Urmiye is a province of Iran in its Azerbaijani region only 40 kilometers from the Turkish border. How is it possible that the PKK has three hospitals in such a city? Perhaps it is one of the PKK's bases against Turkey and a weapons warehouse disguised as hospital so as not to be destroyed in any military operation. Western sources reported that the hospital had been opened with the help and support of the Iranian intelligence agency. However, Iran had pledged to Turkey not to provoke its Kurdish population. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union over a decade ago, Iran became Turkey's biggest neighbor. It is willing to export its regime to others and is also a supporter of the PKK, under a rationale that Turkey has been supporting Iranians against the current regime and giving shelter to them. In the 19th century, disagreements between the Ottomans and Iran harmed both countries and imperialists were the only ones who benefited from this. Excepting a short period during the reign of Shah Reza Khan (1921-41), who was an admirer of the Republic of Turkey's founder Ataturk's revolutions, Turkey and Iran have not enjoyed friendly relations. Have you ever heard that our biggest neighbor ever supported any of the Turkish Cypriots' initiatives? I can't remember such a case. It is a strange situation for a country in which one-third of its population speaks Turkish and which has a longer tradition and history than any of the Muslim countries besides Turkey. It is well known that Iranian regime is trying to influence Turkey and wipe away its wonderful understanding of Islam. However, rapprochement between the two countries would serve both their interests greatly, and so both should refrain from efforts to export their ways of governing to the other.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION