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Turkey supports Iran’s separatist forces on the state level. Panorama.am held an interview with Iranian studies expert Armen Israyelyan on this issue as well as on the current problems in Turkish-Iranian relations.  

- How would you assess the Turkish-Iranian relations?

- In spite of the fact that during official meetings, the leaders of Iran and Turkey state that the two countries have good neighborly and allied relations, in reality, there are a number of problems that cause an atmosphere of mutual distrust.

In spite of a number of problems in the bilateral political relations, under economic sanctions, Iran tries to maintain normal relations with Turkey, but Ankara’s behavior makes Tehran sometimes take abrupt actions.

- What problems are there in the bilateral relations?

- Iran and Turkey have absolutely different positions on regional issues, particularly on Syria. Ankara is for overthrowing Bashar al-Assad’s government and supports armed opposition groups in Syria, while Tehran is for solving the Syrian crisis by national consent between different political and public groups in Syria, and formation of transitional government through elections.

Turkey officially accuses Iran of supporting Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). That was the reason why the tripartite meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkey scheduled to be held in the Turkish city of Erzurum was canceled on its eve. Later, the Iranian President rejected an invitation by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit Ankara because of the deployment of Patriot missiles on the Turkish-Syrian border.

 - Pan-Turkist forces operating in Azerbaijan constantly speculate the problems of Iran’s Turkish-speaking population - Azaris. What is Turkey’s role in it?

- Formerly, Turkey showed that it is neutral in this issue, while currently Ankara voices the problems of Iran’s Turkish-speaking population on the state level.

According to Iranian media, Turkey’s state-run TV channel TRT recently called “Southern Azerbaijan” those provinces of Iran which have Turkish-speaking population and added that the 30 million Azaris undergo pressure in Iran.

More, Valley of the Wolves, a Turkish television serial aired by a television channel controlled by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been turned from anti-Israeli and anti-American into anti-Iranian.