That was then. This is now. Erdogan visited Moscow last week, and the two are now thick as thieves, even raising fears about the integrity of NATO. (Remember: Strategically located Turkey commands the alliance’s second-largest army.)
Erdogan is angry over our refusal to extradite Fatullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based preacher Erdogan accuses of masterminding a failed military coup against him. But will Turkey now bar US and NATO planes from continuing to use the Incirlik airbase near the Syrian border?
“You have never seen such a cheap tactic from Turkey,” an Ankara parliamentarian named Taha Ozhan told me recently.
Well, at least not since 2003, when Erdogan abruptly blocked a US-led alliance from using Turkish soil to launch the Iraq war, forcing a major last-minute strategy shift.
Either way, Putin sees a US-Turkish rift and seizes on it. With his Turkey-Azerbaijan move, which includes a planned natural-gas pipeline, he can dominate Central Europe’s energy markets. And as a bonus, Turkey and Russia are promising to share intelligence on Syria.
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