Exploring Emotions in Turkey-Iran Relations

This book explores emotional-affective implications of partnership and rivalry in Turkey-Iran relations. The main proposition of this research underlines the theoretical need to reconnect psycho-social conceptualizations of “emotionality,” “affectivity,” “normativity,” and “relationality.” By combining key theoretical findings, the book offers a holistic conceptual framework to better analyze emotional-affective configuration of relational rules and roles in trans-governmental neighborhood interactions. The empirical chapters look at four consecutive periods extending from the end of First World War (November 1918) to the resuscitation of US sanctions against Iran (November 2018). In each episode, global-regional contours and dyadic dynamics of Ankara-Tehran relationship are examined critically. The century-long history of emotional entanglements and affective arrangements exposes complex patterning of “feeling rules.” Two countervailing constellations still reign over relational narratives. While the 1514 Çaldıran war myth reproduces sectarian resentment and confrontational climate, the 1639 Kasr-ı Şirin peace story reconstructs secular sympathy and collaborative atmosphere in Turkish-Iranian affairs.

“Exploring Emotions in Turkey-Iran Relations provides valuable historical and theoretical insights into Turkish-Iranian affairs, focusing on emotional diplomacy and affective norms. It also gives a detailed analysis of each country’s domestic factors and how domestic politics determined their bilateral affairs. … Exploring Emotions in Turkey-Iran Relations will become a seminal source for future studies on Turkey and Iran, providing an essential addition to the literature on Turkish-Iranian affairs, with its theoretical framework on emotions and affective norms.” (Cangül Altundaş-Akçay, Insight Turkey, Vol. 23 (2), 2021)

‘Exploring Emotions in Turkey-Iran Relations: Affective Politics of Partnership and Rivalry examines the Turkey-Iran relationship from an affective, psycho-social perspective. It provides the reader with an in-depth look at how emotional discourses and affective contexts transform neighborhood relationships adding a unique and understudied voice to psycho-social and narrative approaches to international relations. The book contributes both innovative theoretical insights and incisive reinterpretations of Turkish-Iranian history that could not be more relevant to both international relations scholars, historians and policy-makers. Overall the book is a thorough examination of a crucial and complex relationship that provides the reader with a thoughtful analysis of the emotional-discursive entanglements in the Middle East and beyond.’

—      Amy Skonieczny, Associate Professor, International Relations Department, San Francisco State University, USA

‘In this ambitious study, Mehmet Akif Kumral traces the affective feeling rules that constitute historical and contemporary relations between Turkey and Iran. Combining detailed historical narrative with a novel conceptualization of socio-political “neighborhoods,” the book brings emotion to the study of regional diplomacy and regional diplomacy to the study of emotion in international relations.’

—      Andrew A.G. Ross, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Ohio University, USA

Mehmet Akif Kumral is retired Assistant Professor and unaffiliated scholar conducting independent research in Balıkesir, Turkey.