A Study of the Effects of Turkey's Foreign Policy in the Iraqi Kurdistan upon the National Interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran 1991-2013

After the establishment of the Iraqi Kurdistan autonomous state in 1991, the downfall of Saddam's regime in 2003, and the passing of the Iraq Constitution, Turkish-Kurdistan relations underwent great tensions so that both parties started to threaten each other to war. However, Turkey sought to acquire economic interests through building up an extensive presence and to contain the Kurdish insurgents through cooperating with Iraqi Kurdistan. So, the present article tries to study the effects of Turkey’s foreign policy in the Iraqi Kurdistan upon the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran by adopting a descriptiveexplanatory approach. The findings of this research indicate that in the second decade of the life of the Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey’s influence increased in that region which has had increasing effects upon IRI’s interests, one of which is the insecurity in the Western borders of the country as well as Iran’s failure in building alliance between the Kurds and the Shiites. As for the economic consequences, it should be noted that form 2009 on, Turkey has managed to surpass the Islamic Republic of Iran in economic activities, and to act more successfully.