Another bloody war proves the end of world friendship between Putin and Erdogan

On another front, the Russian-Turkish opposition developed

For more than a week, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at war for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is officially part of Azerbaijan but is controlled by Armenian separatists. The conflict could already have thousands of deaths, the opposing parties are already firing at each other’s big cities with artillery and missile fire.

While most international superpowers constantly push to reduce escalation, it seems Turkey is pouring oil on the fire. At the beginning of the conflict, Azerbaijan had officially assured its support and had already intervened on several fronts.

The Turks transported Syrian Turkmen mercenaries to the Azeris and the Turkish air force attacked Armenian planes, according to several independent sources. Furthermore, Turkey has been supplying weapons to Azerbaijan for years, from small arms to combat vehicles and drones. The Turkish Bayraktar drones (along with the Israeli Heron and Harop drones) are used with great success against armored targets and Armenian bunkers in Azerbaijan. Images of the drone strikes have spread across the internet.

Russia did not take such a clear position, through official channels with both parties continuously communicate to avoid conflict cool. Recently, a joint statement was issued with US President Donald Trump and French President Emmannuel Macron, calling on the parties for a ceasefire.

Russia sold weapons to the two former Soviet states, Armenia and Azerbaijan in recent decades, but In some respects, its relationship with Armenia is perhaps a little closer.

Russia also operates two military bases in Armenia (By 2012, that number was three.) Furthermore, the internet has been tracked by unconfirmed images of Russia allegedly transporting combat vehicles to Armenia via Iran. It may well be, of course, that it is just wanting to strengthen the protection of their own bases with the media.

By the way, the trade between Azerbaijan and Russia is more significant than between Armenia and Russia, but this may also be due to the immediate neighborhood and size of the country.

So far, it is far from clear that the Russian government is clearly in favor of Armenia, but it is quite clear that they are constantly working to end the conflict. On the contrary, the Turks tend to provoke tensions;

In terms of the escalation of the war, therefore, it can be said that Turkey and Russia are working towards opposite goals.

This is not the first drop

In recent years, but especially this is the first time that the political interests of Turkey and Russia collide on the battlefield. Not even the toughest confrontation right now, since

In various conflicts in the Middle East, Russia and Turkey are supporting various organizations at war with each other.

• In the Libyan civil war Russia supports General Halifa Haftar and the Libyan national army with weapons and mercenaries. The military leader, also known as the warlord, currently controls most of Libya. Opposed by the Government of the National Pact, this organization is recognized by the UN as the official government of Libya, but Turkey also supports them with weapons and mercenaries. NMK controls the western part of Libya and the Tripoli area.

• In Syria Russia supports the Assad government with weapons, soldiers and air forces, while Turkey supports dozens of democratic insurgents and extremist Islamist organizations, and the Turkish army has also been deployed directly to Ildib and Afrin. Turkey has mainly launched an attack against Kurdish militias in the region, but there has already been a direct confrontation between Assad’s soldiers and the Turks in Ildib province in February this year. Russia bombed Turkish-backed militias during the incident, Turkey has even accused the Russians of killing dozens of Turkish soldiers in an airstrike.

• Although it was not intentional, diplomatic relations were also damaged by that In 2015, the Turks shot down a Russian Su-24 fighter jet.. In the incident, one of the pilots died like a monster, and in a rescue operation to rescue the co-pilot, Syrian militias shot down a Russian rescue helicopter, claiming another Russian death. The Turkish apology for the incident prompted Putin and Erdogan to begin a closer relationship with each other in December 2016, when a service was decommissioned. Turkish Ambassador Andrei Karlov was executed by a Turkish policeman, both parties have tried to cover up the case.

Thus, Russian and Turkish interests are currently in tension at various points, and diplomatic relations between the two countries have deteriorated greatly in recent years.

The tension is also evident in relation to the commissioning of the Russian Sz-400 anti-aircraft missile systems.. Turkey’s relationship with the United States deteriorated precisely because of the acquisition of these systems, so much so that The Trump administration has also expelled Turkey from the F-35 combat program.. The Turks scheduled the commissioning of the weapons systems for spring 2020, but they are still not working; Turkish engineers are said to be unable to operate the Sz-400s, but Erdogan will not allow Russian technicians to enter the country.

Officially By the way, Turkey claims that the Sz-400s are to blame., which would be surprising for a $ 9 billion weapons system, but the statement is definitely it destroys the already dubious international perception of Russian military technology.

The end of a special friendship

Although reluctantly in the Syrian-Libyan conflict, only Turkey intervened years later, the Turks entered the war in the Nagorno-Karabakh region with full chest width, the same day after the start of the conflict.

This probably indicates that Erdogan is no longer interested in confronting Russian interests directly, it seems that the Putin-Erdogan friendship has ended.

However, the two leaders from the summer of 2016 to the spring of 2020, the two leaders constantly worked to bring the two countries closer together. During the failed coup in the summer of 2016, President Putin openly supported Erdogan, and some Russian intelligence councils are even believed to have saved the life of the Turkish president. By the way, Erdogan himself accuses the Western powers of supporting the coup, which is why he sought to deepen relations with Russia.

The two countries lifted all sanctions against each other in 2017 and that They have also pressed side by side to lift US sanctions.. For years, Putin and Erdogan met regularly to discuss economic and military cooperation and peace in Syria. It was even about that If Turkey cannot buy American F-35s, it will also buy fifth-generation Su-57s from Russia.. The planes were assembled by Putin and Erdogan last year at an air show in Ankara.

Now that the great upheaval seems to be over, the question is in which direction the Russian-Turkish economic and military cooperation will go. With regards to the Sz-400s, it has seemed so far that both parties are more likely to wait and see what the other is doing to further worsen or even improve common relationships.

The fact that the Turks were immediately behind the Azeris, on the other hand, was a strong message to the Russians that Putin could hardly leave unanswered.

It cannot be ruled out, therefore, that certain economic and military cooperation between the two countries will end soon and that the two regional powers are also in tension on other fronts.

At the moment, it is still unclear whether Turkey would return to the arms of the Americans after the break with the Russians: in the Azerbaijan conflict, the United States is pressing with the Russians for peace. However, it is not inconceivable that after seeing the deterioration of Russian relations after the elections, the United States would once again try to improve its relations with the Turks to isolate the Russians in the region.

Cover photo: An unexploded 9M55K missile fired from a BM-30 missile launcher drilled into the asphalt of an Azerbaijani city. Photo: Getty Images

Sources used: Middle East Eye (1, 2), New York Times, Eurasian Times, NPR, Wikipedia.