Entering Saudi orbit while ignoring Iran

Ever since economic sanctions against Iran were officially lifted in mid-January, you could see this mood of overriding joy among the business community.

It is not difficult to understand their joy. While Western markets have remained more or less stable, the Turkish business community has been hit by the turmoil in the region. Turkish business has suffered from the political tension of strained bilateral relations with countries like Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Russia.
 
From the Turkish Exporters Assembly (T?M) to the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), you hear statements voicing excitement about new business opportunities to come in the post-embargo period. There are high (and some definitely exaggerated) expectations on how Turkish exports will increase and how Iranian tourists will flood into Turkey to compensate for lost Russian tourists. 

This stands in high contrast with the silence coming from Turkish officials. One statement I came across was from Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu, who said right after the announcement of the decision that Turkey was happy to see the sanctions lifted and his expectation was this would boost economic ties between the two countries. 

As someone who worked to find a breakthrough in the nuclear talks back in 2010 as Turkey's then-foreign minister, one would have expected a more excited attitude from Davuto?lu. At any rate, nothing more was heard from the government. This is rather unusual, since one would expect the government to play a leading role in boosting trade ties with Tehran.

While European governments have been sending high-level political delegations to Tehran since last July, when the nuclear deal was reached, not only have Turkey's rulers been avoiding going...