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THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.72, # 1, 2015, pp. 5-26

social and political changes with Westernized reforms. Hovewer, the Islamic

revolution in Iran did not spoil bilateral relations due to international isolation of

both countries and only after the demise of the Soviet Union they began to wrestle

for the influence in Post-Soviet space. With the rise of moderate Islamists in Turkey

official Ankara decided to become the economic leader of Muslim world and

directly interfered in Iran‘s sphere of interests in Syria and Iraq. On the other hand,

the current President Erdoğan, as the leader of a big and resource-poor country, will

continue to value the energy partnership with Iran despite political differences. For

its part official Tehran considers Turkey as important transit route for the energy

export to Southern Europe, but highly negative attitude of the European Union

towards Iranian nuclear program does not allow the Iranian plans of gas export to

Europe to be carried out.

Endnotes

[1] Sharif Behruz, ―Sunni Muslims‘ Tale of Grievances in Iran‖, BAS news,

January 22, 2015, accessed February 20, 2015,

http://basnews.com/en/opinion/2015/01/22/sunni-muslims-tale-of-grievances-

in-iran/;

[2] ―Turkish population nears 78 mln amid high unemployment‖, Todays Zaman,

January 28, 2015, accessed February 20, 2015,

http://www.todayszaman.com/business_turkish-population-nears-78-mln-

amid-high-unemployment_371029.html;

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