فصلنامه مطالعات آسیای مرکزی و قفقاز
پیاپی 116 (زمستان 1400)

At present, Iran’s neighbourhood policy toward  the Central Asian region has been preserved based on Iran’s geographical potentials. Turkmenistan is one of the countries in this region being of importance to the foreign policy apparatus by virtue of the neighbourhood policy and sharing a border. Hence, the question raised is what are the capacities and requirements of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Neighbourhood Policy concerning Turkmenistan? The presumption of the research is that situation  of  Iran and Turkmenistan on each other’s borders and existence of economic, political and cultural potentials create a ground for integration and cooperation between the two countries, and this can help ease Iran’s political and economic bottlenecks. The results of the research show that historically and economically , Turkmenistan has had many cultural commonalities with Iran. In addition, this country enjoys gas resources and various economic grounds. With regard to rivalries among the hostile regional and extra-regional powers  like the US and Israel in this country, on one side, and the existence of wide trade and economic sanctions of the west, Turkmenistan can be a fertile ground for offsetting pressures exerted on Iran and reducing them. The method of the research is qualitative of the descriptive-analytical type, and the data have been collected using the library method and through cataloguing.

The logic governing the International System is obtaining and upgrading power. Since science and technology are the prime source of power in the modern world, the countries are scrambling to obtain them within a context of competition and cooperation on various dimensions. Artificial intelligence is one of those advanced technologies which Russia pursues to develop and apply in various areas to boost its status in the international system. The question of the present paper is that within its strategy of Artificial Intelligence what goals does Russia pursue, and what challenges lie ahead of this path? The findings of the research show that Russia is seeking to get superiority in artificial intelligence and apply this technology to strengthen its military might and tip the power equations in its own favour  in the international system. Limited national economic capacities, lack of necessary scientific resources and infrastructures, technical and organizational problems, cooperation restrictions and international sanctions are among the challenges Russia faces in advancing its goals. The research method is a type of case-study with qualitative and essentially explanatory data.

The present paper intends to explore Turkey’s economic plans in Central Asia from the perspective of the opportunities and threats posed to Iran; therefore, using thematic analysis of the thematic matrix by use of indirect observation (text analysis), the research data is collected using targeted sampling from the existing texts and through subject encoding . The themes of opportunities and threats to Iran of Turkey’s economic plans in Central Asia were identified, and finally compared, contrasted and analysed according to the common and differentiating aspects. The findings of the research show that the economic plans of the “Turkic Council in Central Asia” have brought for Iran these opportunities: A: Having cultural-historical convergence and joint security strategies in Central Asia. B: Inconsistency of the cultural model of culture and development of Iran and Turkey in Central Asia; in addition, the economic-energy plan of “Turkic Council-New Silk Road” in Central Asia has brought these opportunities and threats for Iran respectively: creating a balance in the region, with Iran playing a role, rise of Turkey’s economic power and weakening of Iran’s geopolitical and economic-transit position.

The Syria crisis is a complicated crisis of the 21st century, which due to the presence of the regional and trans-regional players has taken global dimensions, and despite bringing up various peace processes, the crisis is yet to be completely settled. Alongside the Geneva and Vienna Peace Talks, also the Russian government has kicked off the Astana-Sochi Talks with Iran and Turkey since 2017 to find a more pragmatic way to further the Peace process. The paper ahead is focused on the question how Russia has walked towards settling the Syrian crisis using the Astana-Sochi Talks and what are this country’s foreign policy goals for planning these talks? The authors believes that the Russian government has taken the initiative in these talks and by political and military settlement of the crisis, on one side, and prevention of the US and its regional allies from interference, on the  other side, it has resorted to these peace processes. The research examines this using the analytical-descriptive method.

The Republic of Azerbaijan is an important country in the South Caucasus which due to enjoying a geopolitical position in the energy sector, especially after the Soviet collapse, has been a battlefield for rivalries among big regional and trans-regional powers. This rivalry has been current in the areas of soft and hard power. Iran and Turkey are among the countries which due to their civilizational and cultural history as well as regional rivalry are present on the political and economic stage of Azerbaijan. Soft power has been a source for rivalry between these two countries in Azerbaijan. Accordingly, this research seeks to answer the question on what elements and coordinates Iran and Turkey soft power rely? The research findings show that both countries emphasize the lingual and religious elements in relation to this republic, and at the same time, the governing difference between Iran and Turkey and their foreign policy orientations have been impacting Azerbaijan’s soft power. Based on the results of the research, Turkey taps into the religious, lingual, ethnic and secular governance elements to further its soft power in Azerbaijan, and Iran’s soft power elements in the Republic of Azerbaijan include cultural-religious elements and a mediating approach in Azerbaijan’s disputes , like in the Karabach crisis. The research method is descriptive-analytical method.