Explaining the Components of Geopolitical Interests in Iran-Turkey Foreign Relations

Extended abstract 
Introduction
Geopolitics is science of studying the interrelationships of geography, power, and politics, and the actions that result from combining them. Its main difference from political geography is the combination of power with the other two elements, which makes it more different. The common point of the two sciences of international relations and geopolitics is in this common element of power, which both have a special place in the science of political science and political geography. Since the main subject of geopolitics is the study and study of cross-border relations between political units at local, national, regional and global scales, there are many similarities and closeness with the subjects studied by the knowledge of international relations, and this has caused ambiguity about the reason for the existence of two sciences, their relationship with each other and the common and specific concepts and issues of the two sciences. Among the basic concepts of geopolitical knowledge that play an important role in shaping relations between countries, the concept of geopolitical interests has a special place in theories of political geography and international relations. The concept of geopolitical interests is the assumed spatial and geographical complementarity across borders that is structurally homogeneous and functionally meets the needs and shortcomings of a country. Geopolitical affiliation forms the basis of the national interests, goals and interests of countries.
Methodology
The research is descriptive-analytic and data gathering procedure is based on library and field finding methods. 130 questionnaires in the form of Likert scale were distributed among professors and specialists in political geography, geopolitics, political science and international relations. Finally, 107 questionnaires were completely answered and collected. The T-test was used to test the hypotheses. Finally, the Friedman ranking test was used to examine and rank more precisely the eight dimensions of the components of geopolitical interests in Iran-Turkey relations.
Results and discussion
The variables of geopolitical interests in the foreign relations of Iran and Turkey can be explained and divided into eight dimensions: political, geographical, geoeconomic, geoculture, geostrategy, cyberspace, science-technology and ecology. These components have had different effects depending on the geographical location and geopolitical conditions of the two countries. Based on the T-Test results the effectiveness of the components in the foreign relations of the two countries shows that the components of geography, geoeconomics and science-technology have the greatest impact on the bilateral relations. On the other hand, the components of ecology and geoculture have less impact than the three other components. It should be noted that all components had an average above 3, which indicates a positive impact on relations between the two countries. The Friedman test was also used to rank and determine the importance of the components of geopolitical interests of countries (political, geographical, geoeconomic, geoculture-social, geostrategy, cyberspace-media, science-technology and ecology). According to the results, geographical, geoeconomic and scientific-technological components have the highest rank and on the other hand, habitat and geoculture components have lower ranks.
Conclusions
The Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey with different and sometimes conflicting political systems in the West Asian region, with a special geopolitical position in the global and regional system and interactions and relations with each other and with other countries, always create new issues that collectively provide a suitable background for the study of dynamic and evolving factors, political, economic, scientific, etc., with an emphasis on geographical realities to explain politics and foreign relations. As discussed, the wide level of relations between the two countries caused geopolitical interests to appear in the eight components of foreign relations. Also, since Turkey's foreign policy has been constantly zigzagging and changing since the AKP came to power, and has been based on various theories such as Kemalism, Ottomanism, attention to the doctrine of the blue homeland, etc, the pattern of foreign relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey based on geopolitical interests can be explained and studied in four aspects: interactive, competitive, conflicting and domination. The results of reliable field and documentary data showed that the competitive aspect is more visible.