Bayram Sinkaya

I got my BA at Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University. Then I attended my graduate studies at the Department of International Relations, Middle East Technical University. I got my MSc. degree through my thesis titled "Conflict and Cooperation in Turkey-Iran Relations:1989-2001," and I recently earned my PhD. degree through my dissertation titled "Revolutionary Guards and Iranian Politics: Causes and Outcomes of Shifting Relationship between the Revolutionary Guards and the Political Leadership in Post-Revolutionary Iran." I have been in Tehran University (2003) and Columbia University (2007/08) as a visiting researcher. I worked as a research assistant at METU and a political analyst for ORSAM, Ankara based Center of Middle East Strategic Studies. I have been currently working as an Assistant Professor of International Relations, Yildirim Beyazit University, Ankara, Turkey. My academic interest are lie in Iranian politics, security and foreign policy, and international relations of the Middle East. I am the author of Revolutionary Guards in Iranian Politics: Elites and Shifting Relations (Routledge, 2015).

Bayram Sinkaya, "Rationalization of Turkey-Iran Relations: Prospects and Limits," Insight Turkey, Vol. 14, No.2, 2012, pp. 137-156. This article examines Turkish Iranian relations in the 2000s, when the two countries initiated an unprecedented rapprochement. It argues that modification of foreign policy paradigms in Turkey and Iran led to the rationalization of bilateral relations that paved the way for improvement of economic and political ties between the two states. In addition to the rationalization, a supportive regional context helped them expand their relations. However, structural differences prevent the Turkish-Iranian rapprochement from turning into a strategic partnership. Moreover, restructuring of the regional context and rise of the specter of a conflictual relationship, which is still alive, threaten the future of Turkish-Iranian relations.

Iranian politics, international relations, Revolutionary Guards, Middle East politics,

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Assoc. Prof. Dr., Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University