Turkey-Azerbaijan relations and Iran (1991-2003)

November 2017 As far as relations with the independent states founded following the breakup of the Soviet Union concerned, Turkey, siding with the West and performing a relatively pro-status quo foreign policy during the Cold War period, noticed that to continue this policy was wrong. Thus Caucasus became an important issue in Turkish foreign policy in 1990s. Turkey, Iran and Russia aiming at being a role model in the region became rivals for each other. The geography of the Caucasus has an importance as far as its underground and terrestrial substance as well as its geopolitical position concerned. It has an access to the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Recently Russia is again trying to interfere into the region. In this paper, the rivalry of global and regional powers are examined under changing conditions and also the measures that Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran should take are also explained. This paper attempts to explain the events on 1990s and the beginning years of 2000s as the beginning of problems based on Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran triangle, and what should be done is explained within the framework of coherent theoretical dynamics. Keywords: Azerbaijan, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia, Iran