Tehran(Bazaar): Commercial competition between our countries is a more secondary issue and the main issue in our region is to drive the imperialist forces out of the region, Hakan Topkurulu, a Turkish economic expert tells Bazaar in an exclusive interview.
He also says," I don`t think the increasing interest of Turkey in Afghanistan will reduce the trade relations between Iran and Afghanistan.
The following is the text of the interview:
Bazaar: Turkey has benefited the most from its growing influence in Afghanistan over the years and has seen Afghanistan as an opportunity to pursue its ambitious ideas. What's your opinion on this issue? What is Turkey looking for in Afghanistan?
Topkurulu: First of all, my approach to the case which Turkey is tring to take place in Afghanistan is wrong. Turkey is the member of NATO and the presence of Turkey at Afghanistan is because of the pressure of USA over Turkey.
We, all regional countries like Turkey, İran, Pakistan, China, India, Russia and the others must be happy because Atlantic Powers leading by US is leaving Afghanistan which is in the middle of Asia. Presence of USA military powers in the middle of Asia is great danger and threat for all of us. We should first see, defeated military forces of imperialism is leaving our region.
Commercial competition between our countries is a more secondary issue. The main issue in our region is to drive the imperialist forces out of the region. Iraq, Syria, Palestine is a bleeding wound for our region. Without these countries being independent, all commercial competition in the region is an insignificant detail.
Bazaar: Has the expansion of Turkish influence in Afghanistan affected the economic relations between Iran and Afghanistan?
Topkurulu: Afghanistan is a country that has lived under Soviet social imperialism for many years, and under the occupation of the USA since the 2000s. Afghanistan has not yet gained its independence. Afghanistan is not yet an important market in the region commercially.
Turkey's important trading partners are European countries, China and Russia. I do not think that the increasing interest of Turkey in Afghanistan will reduce the trade relations between Iran and Afghanistan.
The product groups that Iran sells to Afghanistan and the product groups that Turkey sells or will sell will not overlap much. In addition, to the extent that Afghanistan gains its independence, it will increase its wealth and production power, so the amount of goods it buys from Iran and Turkey will increase. Geographically, Iran's proximity to Afghanistan is an advantage for Iran.
Bazaar: Experts believe that the presence of Turkey and the capture of markets such as Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Afghanistan, which are trying to increase their economic and trade relations with Iran and establish win-win relations between them, will reduce Iran's trade relations with these countries. Why does Turkey seek to reduce the economic dependence of these countries on Iran?
Topkurulu: I think whoever you call an expert is not telling the truth. These experts, under the influence of Atlantic powers, create an effect that tries to make people forget the existence of imperialism in the region by highlighting the rivalry between the countries of the region.
First of all, as I have emphasized before, the independence of the countries of the region is very important. Iran has not been able to offer its natural resources to the world markets under the US embargo for years. Iraq, Syria and Palestine are under occupation. The threats of the Atlantic powers over Russia and Turkey continue. Ukraine is trying to provoke on Russia. Likewise, Greece and the Greek Cypriots are being provoked against Turkey.
There is an attempt to usurp Turkey's rights in the eastern Mediterranean seas, which we call the "blue homeland". You say that under these conditions, what you call experts, the countries groaning attack each other's markets, and that they claim that Turkey has taken Iran's markets. Western powers just laugh at these claims. The countries that should be friends show their teeth against each other, but it only plays into the hands of the West, which is after world hegemony.
The countries of the region have not been able to increase the welfare of their people under the pressure of imperialism for years. As the countries of the region gain their independence, they will ensure their development, of course, there will be commercial competition, but the region's need for development and prosperity will ensure that each regional country develops without having to step on each other's feet for years.
Bazaar: With the Istanbul Summit, Turkey sought to circumvent and ignore Iran in the future of Afghanistan, while the actors of this summit were most aware of how much Iran can be effective in determining the fate and future of the region. What is your assessment?
Topkurulu: First of all, I would like to point out that. The Istanbul summit on Afghanistan was not held, it was cancelled. Turkey and the countries in the region should act together on Afghanistan as they solved the Nagorno-Karabakh problem together.
The primary problem of the region is the expulsion of imperialism from the region. Independent countries in the region freed from the oppression of imperialism can only solve their economic problems together. The countries of the region can improve the welfare of their people in solidarity and without interfering politically in each other's internal affairs.
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