The Iran deal and Turkish politics

Well done! For me, the deal is something to celebrate, since I have always been for diplomatic solutions. Moreover, I am a fan of Iran as a beautiful country and great culture. Finally, I want to hope that it will help restore peace in the region after so much suffering at tragic human cost.

Besides, I think that it was the most realistic and rational thing to do. When I was asked for my opinion on the Syrian crisis by a foreign policy adviser friend for an EU Parliament group in Brussels, sometime at the end of 2012, I risked my image of being considered a "sober" observer of politics by saying the best solution was to politically engage with Iran. At the time it could be conceived as a pure fantasy, but fortunately, my friend agreed with me. Then, I dared to write about my "fantastic" views, on Sept. 9, 2013, ("Talking to Iran," Hürriyet Daily News) and then again on Dec. 2, 2013 ("The politics of the Sunni world and Iran," Hürriyet Daily News). 

In nutshell, my argument was that Western politics, which have been shaped by hostility to Iran since the Islamic Revolution, had done nothing but increase turmoil and suffering in the Middle East.

Moreover, after the Western policies of supporting pro-Western Sunni Arab regimes failed with the Arab Spring in some countries, the idea of the spring also failed shortly afterwards as the region turned more unstable than ever. The idea of "moderate Islamic forces," which were supposed to lead democratization in Arab Spring countries, failed on two fronts; they could neither enforce good governance nor manage to be an alternative to rising Islamic radicalism.

On the contrary, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt seemed to be sliding toward another authoritarian regime, the Syrian opposition...