STAR- Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli comments on the situation in Iran and Turkey vis-à-vis a possible attack by the US against Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:
A possible US-led operation against Iraq is the top issue on the agenda not only in Turkey, but also across the entire region. The situation in Iran is no different. However, there are sharply contrasting opinions concerning the operation there. The Iranian administration is afraid, but the nation is hopeful. Iran’s dominant administration is completely opposed to an operation. First of all, the mullahs there fear that the US will make Iran its next target. Secondly, it’s afraid of the establishment of a new pro-US administration next door to it. Tehran doesn’t want a new administration in Iraq that is friendly with its ‘great enemy.’ The front pages of newspapers are full of pieces rallying against the war. Former Iranian President Rafsanjani said openly, ‘The Iraqi nation won’t and shouldn’t allow an administration that is a US puppet.’ However, the majority of the Iranian nation disagrees with the administration. The Iranian public is hopeful about a US operation against Iraq. This is not due to lack of love for Saddam Hussein’s administration or because they want the Iraqi nation to be saved. Rather, the Iranian people expect the US to change the regime in Iran, one which has created economic turmoil in the region. These contrasting opinions held by the administration and the nation are actually a graphic display of Iraq’s split nature.
All things in Iran right now are of two kinds, namely the reformists and the conservatives: two armies, two police organizations, two educational systems and even two separate administrations. They are the chosen and the appointed ones. The chosen ones represent the country’s reformist wing, with its current leader President Khatami. However, the nation isn’t hopeful that Khatami will be able to carry out needed reforms. They are instead casting their lot with the Iranian Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Ali Khatami, the president’s brother, who might have greater success.
Iran is interested in recent developments in Turkey. The Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) victory in our elections last November pleased the mullahs. Hamit Haci Babaei, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee, expressed this pleasure by saying, ‘The presence of a party in power in Turkey taking its roots from Islam will push our bilateral relations forward.’ The people in Iran don’t understand Turkey’s ambiguous stance, in giving warm messages to the US but also sending a commercial delegation to Baghdad. Concerning Prime Minister Abdullah Gul’s recent visit to Tehran, Babaei said, ‘The Turkish prime minister toured the Middle East in order to show that Turkey has no choice but to support war if it comes to that.’ In spite of warm messages to the AKP, efforts by Iran’s Islamic administration to export a regime to Turkey are a thing of the past. Support for the terrorist PKK has also plummeted. The great interest shown in Mr. Gul during his visit to Tehran actually reflects the latest situation of the mullah regime, which is experiencing its most difficult days since Iran’s revolution over 20 years ago.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION