Iran-Turkey economic relations within the framework of the liberal institutionalism approach during the AK Party era (2010-2020)

The purpose of this study is to test the economic relationship between Iran and Turkey within the framework of liberal institutionalism from 2010-2020, following the AK Party's rise to power. The main research question of the study is to explain the reasons why Iran-Turkey economic relations fall below the desired level within the framework of liberal institutionalism. While the liberal institutionalism approach focuses on the state actor, it also considers transnational cooperation and the influence of international regimes as important factors in achieving a high level of institutional economic cooperation between the two countries. This approach predicts that institutional economic relations can be developed within the context of transnational relations, complex interdependence, and international regimes. By using this approach, which will help us look at the economic relations between the two countries from different perspectives, we will consider the effective role of intra-state, regional, and international system-based factors on bilateral economic cooperation. While all of these factors are important in the economic relations between the two countries, the most important factor in bilateral economic cooperation will be the impact of positive and negative developments at the regional level. In the theoretical section of the thesis, we explain how the economic relations between Iran and Turkey can be connected within the context of the basic elements and analysis levels of liberal institutionalism. Next, we analyze the main factors contributing to the development of economic cooperation that emerged following the AK Party's rise to power in the 2000s. During this period, the positive trajectory of intra-state factors was the most effective factor in bilateral economic cooperation. However, the regional economic cooperation factor gained more weight compared to other levels of factors in the later stages of the period and contributed to economic cooperation. In the 2010s, the positive economic steps taken in the previous period were negatively affected by the regional factor of the Syrian crisis, as well as intra-state and international factors. However, despite the negative factors affecting economic relations between the two countries, both sides continued to keep their economic cooperation areas separate from political-security areas. This period will be examined as a period of partial settlement of cooperation within the framework of liberal institutionalism in the 2010s. In fact, within the framework of this approach, it has been concluded that the two countries experienced more suitable developments for a liberal institutionalism approach in the 2000s, but that liberal institutionalism was only partially operationalized in the 2010s.