A Comparative Study of the Foreign Policy of Iran and Turkey in the Syrian Crisis Based on the Theory of Realism

Public uprisings of the Middle East and North Africa that began in Tunisia in January 2011, Up to now have caused to change the political regime in a few Arab countries. Syria as one of the countries in the region has been involved in these transformations. Although many problems in political, social and economic situation of Syria had a role in the formation of the Syrian crisis, but certainly what exacerbated and persistent the crisis in Syria is the intervention of external actors. Therefore, the Syrian crisis cannot be fully in line with the assessment of developments in the Arab region. Today, with the crisis in the country, different regional and trans-regional actors have participated and each one based on its own interests has adopted a specific orientation. Iran and Turkey as regional actors have taken an active approach to their interests on these developments. Based on the theory of realism that consider the "national interest" as a guide light of foreign policy, this article persuades to study the positions of Iran and Turkey who respectively tend to maintain and overthrow Syria's ruling regime. The research, enjoying a descriptive and analytical method based on the theory of realism puts the positions and views of these two countries in the Syrian crisis in a comparative study.