Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi is traveling to Ankara on Wednesday, January 23, where he will speak with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the war in Gaza and ways to prevent its extension.
Announced by the Iranian agency Irna and confirmed by the Turkish presidency, the visit, twice postponed, comes against a backdrop of growing tensions in the Middle East.
Ebrahim Raïssi thus swore on Saturday to avenge the death of five members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards killed according to him by Israel in a strike in Syria.
Israel has already been accused of having killed in recent weeks a senior Iranian official in Syria and Hamas number two in Lebanon, raising fears of an extension of its war against Hamas, while the Revolutionary Guards carried out in mid-January an attack in Iraqi Kurdistan against “
a headquarters
” from which, according to them, the Israeli foreign intelligence services operated.
Adding to an explosive situation, Yemeni Houthi rebels, supported by Tehran, continue to attack merchant ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, despite American-British strikes, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
“Tactical proximity”
President Erdogan has also taken up the cause of Hamas.
The Turkish head of state described Israel as a “
terrorist state
” and Hamas – of which the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the main international supporters – as a “
group of liberators
”.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recalled the Turkish ambassador to Tel Aviv at the beginning of November, however deemed it impossible to “
completely break
” with Israel.
The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs had just called, from Ankara, for a “
boycott
” of Israeli products and to sever all ties with Israel.
“
The Iranians consider Erdogan's firm declarations positive, but they criticize him for not breaking with Israel
,” underlines Arif Keskin, researcher specializing in Turkish-Iranian relations in Ankara, for whom the war in Gaza has nevertheless created a “
proximity tactical
” between Tehran and Ankara.
“
It is possible that Raisi and Erdogan will announce symbolic measures concerning Palestine, but I think they will focus on ways to contain the conflict (...) because that is what Ankara and Tehran want
,” said Arash Azizi, lecturer in political science at the American University of Clemson.
Complex relationships
But the two neighbors maintain complex relations on several issues.
Turkey has notably supported rebel groups in Syria, against President Bashar al-Assad supported by Moscow and Tehran.
Ankara's support for Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Baku seized in September during a lightning offensive, has also irritated Iran, which worries that the rise in power of Baku in the Caucasus could fuel separatist ambitions within its own Azeri ethnic minority.
Iran also takes a dim view of any ambition of Azerbaijan, Ankara's ally, to carve out a corridor in Armenian territory towards the enclave of Nakhitchevan which runs along Iran's northern border and could complicate its own access to Armenia.
The visit of President Raïssi, who will be accompanied by a large delegation, will also be an opportunity to strengthen commercial ties with Ankara, underlines Arash Azizi.
The two presidents could thus discuss the opening of a new crossing point between their two territories which would facilitate bilateral trade.