over the past several weeks, in conversations before
and after president ahmadinejad's november 8-9 visit to
istanbul (ref b), congen istanbul's nea iran watcher has
solicited views from a wide range of turkish and iranian
contacts on the issue of warming turkey-iran relations, what
motivates each side, and whether turkey's approach has led to
a moderation of iranian regime behavior. contacts with whom
we spoke included turkish academic experts, turkish
businessmen who deal with iran, istanbul-based journalists
who cover iran, several iranian political activists now
seeking refugee status in turkey for fear of persecution in
iran, and several tehran-based iranian contacts who follow
iran's foreign policy. our conversations revealed an unusual
confluence of views.
