Turkish Journal of Iranian Studies (TJIS) Issue 5

The research was planned to examine China’s relations with Iran in the context of OBORP (One Belt One Road Project) and the 25-year CSPA (Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement). In the research, the content of OBORP and CSPA, their meaning for China and Iran, the reasons that led these countries to this initiative and agreement, and the limitations and future of OBORP and CSPA were examined. It was concluded that the main factors that caused China to initiate the OBORP were the increasing energy need in parallel with China’s developing industry, ensuring energy security through alternative routes and the search for new markets. For Iran, OBORP means the only source of finance for energy and transportation infrastructure investments, which are needed even more due to sanctions. In addition, Iran wants to use its economic ties with China to escape international isolation and find support in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). In the research, it is evaluated that OBORP and CSPA will be more beneficial to China than to Iran, and that Iran has no choice but to reach such an agreement within the framework of its “Look East” vision. China will try to implement this agreement without confronting the United States, the most powerful actor of the international system, and its allies in the Middle East. With this agreement, Iran is trying to get China’s financial and political support to balance the sanctions of the USA and the West. As a result, it is understood that the future of CSPA is closely tied to China and Iran’s relations with the USA.

The Thousand and One Nights, known as Alf Layla wa Layla in Arabic and Hazar u Yak Shab in Persian, which contains the stories that Shahrazad tells her husband Shahriyar every night, is a work that is popular all over the world. Shahriyar, who has been betrayed by a woman, tries to take revenge on women by killing his wives the next morning after marrying them the day before. In order to arouse Shahriyar’s curiosity and thus survive, Shahrazad stops telling the story at the most exciting moment every night for a thousand and one nights. Recent scholarship assumes that the Nights is constructed on Hazar Afsana and Sindbadnama, which are considered to be texts of Persian and Indian origin, although few scholars emphasise the possibility of other sources. This article examines the extent to which the Nights is based on Persian sources and contains Persian motifs and elements, focusing on the story of “The History of Gharib and his Brother Ajib”. This article argues that this story, which in its early version was a Mamluk tale, was Persianised in the Medieval Era through the incorporation of Persian elements and motifs, and ‘Qajarised’ in the nineteenth century via Nasir al-Din Shah’s illustration project of the Nights. The article discusses the extent as well as the ways that this Persianisation and Qajarisation took place. The article argues that the Qajars used the text to connect not only to Iran’s ancient past but also to the Islamic golden age in order to legitimise the Qajar dynasty and propagate its authority. In doing so, an additional contribution to the discussions on the Persian sources and motifs of the Nights and on the way the Qajars used the past to legitimise and propagate their power and authority, which have already been discussed by scholars from different perspectives.

The constitutional movement, which can be considered the first step of Iran’s democratization efforts, went through its most troubled period during the short reign of Mohammad Ali Shāh (1907-1909). Mohammad Ali Shāh, who established good relations with the leaders of the constitutional movement during his crown prince, was aware that he could not sit on the Qajar throne without their support. Mohammad Ali Shāh also signed the constitutional edict signed by his father Moẓaffar od-Dīn Shāh (1896-1907) for the same reason. Mohammad Ali Shāh, who was pro-Russian during his crown prince, actually never adopted the constitutional monarchy. As soon as his father died, he began to openly express his attitude towards the supporters of the constitutional monarchy and the parliament. In particular, the fact that no one representing the parliament was invited to the coronation ceremony was a harbinger of bad days ahead for the constitutionalists. Mohammad Ali Shāh, just as expected from him, took every opportunity to eliminate the constitutional administration and the parliament in order not to share his authority. Despite this, the shāh, who was unsuccessful against the supporters of the constitutional monarchy, began to look for new ways to eliminate this new regime. However, the shāh failed again and there was only one way left for him. With the influence of the assassination carried out on him, the necessity of the constitutional monarchy was to abolish the parliament... The purpose of writing this article is to reveal the struggle of Mohammad Ali Shāh and the supporters of the constitutional monarchy to eliminate each other. In the article, firstly, the Tophane Square Events, in which the shāh’s supporters and constitutionalists took to the squares at the same time, secondly, the assassination of Mohammad Ali Shāh, and lastly, the incident of storming the parliament by the shāh, are discussed. While examining these issues, the press of the period was especially taken into consideration.

It has been observed that India took a supportive stance for Israel during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation carried out by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on October 7, 2023, and in the conflict between Palestine and Israel after the operation. This situation indicates that the New Delhi government has moved away from the balance policy on the Israel-Palestine issue that it has followed since its independence in 1947. In this context, the objective of this study is to examine the reasons behind this remarkable change in the foreign policy of India, which has been one of the leading actors of the non-aligned movement for many years. In addition to the relevant policy makers’ and institutions’ statements reflected in open sources, the works of experts and academics knowledgeable on the subject were also used as primary and secondary sources in order to make sense of why the New Delhi government, which has pursued an anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist foreign policy for many years after its independence from Britain in 1947 and has a balanced stance on the Palestine-Israel issue, supports the Tel Aviv administration in this latest conflict between Israel and Palestine. As a result of the research conducted with this method, it has been concluded that the change in India's domestic politics, the rapprochement of the USA and India due to the rise of China in the international arena, cooperation between Israel and India in critical sectors such as the defense industries, and the close personal relationship between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have led India to depart from its traditionally balanced foreign policy and become closer to Israel and its strategic ally, the USA.

It is a review of the book titled “Turkey-Iran Relations in 50 Questions”.