Ending the war in Ukraine and starting a new conflict in Syria are expected to dominate talks on Friday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish leader is riding high from the diplomatic success of helping orchestrate the resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments across the Black Sea just ahead of his second round of talks with Putin in just 17 days. For further analysis of NATO-member Turkey and Russia’s complex relationship, FRANCE 24 is joined by Steve Cook, senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. While Putin and Erdogan have been on opposite ends of major conflicts ranging from those in Ukraine, Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, Mr. Cook explains that “they have had a meeting of minds on one very important issue: Neither the Turkish nor Russian leadership feels very comfortable with an American-led global or regional order. And thus they’ve been able to cooperate,” says Mr. Cook. ” Turkey very much wants to pursue a policy independent of the United States and its NATO allies. And that requires it to continue to have correct relations with Russia despite their vast differences on a number of regional conflicts.”
