Turkey and Russia Get Closer–and Worry the West
Ian Bremmer @ianbremmer
Last November, Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet near the country’s border with Syria, provoking fears in Western capitals that Ankara and Moscow might stumble into conflict. Russia then imposed sanctions that badly damaged Turkey’s economy, and a chastened President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized in June. In July, Erdogan faced down a coup attempt; his subsequent detention of tens of thousands of suspected enemies has drawn sharp criticism from his U.S. and European NATO allies. On Aug. 9, he made headlines by flying to Russia for his first meeting with Vladimir Putin since the plane fiasco, and the West now fears that Turkey and Russia are moving too close together.
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