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By Armen Israyelyan, Iranian studies expert 

Large-scale protests have been raging in Turkish cities for about one week. According to reports of Western media, about 2,000 people have been detained during the protests, dozens have been injured in clashes with police, and three people have been killed.

Tehran has neutral position on Turkey events. Iran believes that this is the domestic issue of Turkey. Following the detention of an Iranian citizen during a protest in Ankara, an attempt was made to represent that allegedly Iran is involved in the protests, but Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Araqchi told semi-official Fars news agency in an interview that Iran is not involved in Turkey protests and that this is the domestic issue of Turkey. Iranian media actively cover Turkey events, with regional experts and analysts presenting their views.

Hassan Hanizade, Iranian expert on Middle East and the Iranian-Arab relations, speaking of the causes of Turkey protests in an interview with Fars news agency, said that people’s discontent with the policy of Erdogan government, Ankara’s stance on Syria, provision of several Turkish military bases to Syrian Salafist groups, supply of chemical weapons to terrorists have sparked public anger, leading to large-scale protests.

Speaking of possible involvement of Kurds in Turkey protests, the Iranian analyst said, “Erdogan has deceived Turkey’s Kurds. He gave promises to them during recent talks between Kurdish leaders and Erdogan’s government, but has not carried them out. Most of PKK members, giving away weapons, understood that they were deceived by Erdogan. Therefore Kurds participate in protests across Turkey.”

Hassan Hanizade noted that Kurds and Alawites, whose number reaches 30 million (Turkey’s population is about 72 million), move in the same direction, and have great possibilities to change some directions of Erdogan’s policy. The Iranian analyst, commenting on the future developments in Turkey, says, ‘“Turkish spring’ has come. People paid a high price for it, and do not intend to give up their demands. The non-Islamic and inhumane actions of Turkish authorities against protesters are evidence of the fact that Erdogan does not care for public opinion. Certainly, Erdogan’s government should have stepped down, but there is no word like “resignation” in the political scientific literature of his government. The only thing Erdogan thinks about is how to strengthen his power.”