Russian president Vladimir Putin has spoken of a historic rapprochement with Turkey, on the model of post-WW2 France and Germany.
But talk of a Turkish realignment from the West was premature, former Nato and Russian officials say.
"Today, they [France and Germany] are jointly performing their Nato defence and security duties the way they think fit," Putin said on TV on 17 November.
"Why can't we [Russia and Turkey] do the same here, in the Black Sea region?," he added. <...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.