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Moscow — Leaders of Turkey and Russia signed a long-delayed deal Monday to build the TurkStream gas pipeline under the Black Sea to deliver Russian gas to Europe's doorstep within three years. The rapid warming trend in Russo-Turkish relations holds deep implications for Syria's immediate crisis, which dominated the talks and the subsequent headlines, but the fallout from that pipeline deal is a potentially crushing blow to struggling pro-Western Ukraine and may be rearranging strategic realities around the region for many years to come. Analysts say that if TurkStream goes ahead it will enable Moscow to cut its former main...

Russia is pressing Turkey for access to a key airbase used by the US as it tries to extend its influence in the Middle East. The American-built Incirlik base, about 65 miles from the Syrian border, is used by Nato and has about 50 US nuclear warheads stored on site. A senior Russian politician said that allowing Russian jets and bombers to use it would be a logical continuation of President Erdogan’s efforts to rebuild Turkey’s relations with the Kremlin. “It just remains to come to an agreement with Erdogan that we get the Nato base Incirlik as [our] primary…

Russia is pressing Turkey for ­access to a key airbase used by the US as it tries to extend its ­influence in the Middle East. The American-built Incirlik base, about 100km from the ­Syrian border, is used by NATO and has about 50 US tactical ­nuclear warheads stored on site. A senior Russian politician said allowing Russian jets and bombers to use it would be a “logical continuation” of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s efforts to rebuild Turkey’s relations with the Kremlin. “It just remains to come to an agreement with Erdogan that we get the NATO base Incirlik as our...

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sat dowb with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Tuesday for a diplomatic reset — just as relations with the United States and Europe show strains after last month's failed coup. The summit was aimed at ending a period of high tension and trade sanctions after Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border last November — an act described by Putin as a "stab in the back." Turkey's relations with traditional allies including the U.S. have faltered over Ankara's post-coup crackdown, which has seen nearly 18,000 people detained or arrested and tens of thousands...

Russian missile obliterates Turkish helicopter killing two in shock attack video RUSSIAN weapons have blasted a Turkish helicopter out of the sky in a stunning attack caught on camera. By Michael Havis / Published 14th May 2016 Jaw-dropping footage from Turkey shows fighters loading a Russian-made MANPADS surface-to-air missile launcher. Moments later a missile is hurtling towards a distant helicopter, smashing its rear rotor off and sending it into a tailspin. The helicopter then plummets to the floor trailing debris, in an attack that would claim the lives of both pilots. It comes after Turkey shot down a Russian plane...

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned on Tuesday that Russia and Turkey are headed towards a "hot war," as she voiced concerns that the growing tensions between the two on the Syrian border risk spilling over into open warfare. Speaking at a debate at the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee in Brussels, Mogherini said, "we are always referring to Syria as a proxy war among regional actors. This risks to become something bigger than this." "I'm not thinking of a cold war. No, we risk a hot war among different actors than the one we always think of. Not...

The US investigative journalist Robert Parry has made an astonishing claim - and one has gone completely unnoticed. He is reporting that the Russian government has warned Erdogan that Russia is prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons to defend its Syrian strike force from Turkish attack. Parry's exact words are as follows: "A source close to Russian President Vladimir Putin told me that the Russians have warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow is prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons if necessary to save their troops in the face of a Turkish-Saudi onslaught. Since Turkey is a member of...

Turkey is confronting what amounts to a strategic nightmare as bombs explode in its cities, its enemies encroach on its borders and its allies seemingly snub its demands. As recently as four years ago, Turkey appeared poised to become one of the biggest winners of the Arab Spring, an ascendant power hailed by the West as a model and embraced by a region seeking new patrons and new forms of governance. All that has evaporated since the failure of the Arab revolts, shifts in the geopolitical landscape and the trajectory of the Syrian war. Russia, Turkey’s oldest and nearest rival,...

Turkey's presidency said U.S. President Barack Obama had shared his concerns over the Syrian conflict and promised his support on Friday, hours after a tense exchange between the two NATO allies over the role of Kurdish militants. In a phone conversation that lasted one hour and 20 minutes, Ankara said Obama had told his counterpart President Tayyip Erdogan that Turkey had a right to self-defense, and expressed worries over advances by Syrian Kurdish militias near Turkey's border. Obama stressed to Erdogan that Syrian Kurdish YPG forces should not seek to exploit recent gains by the Syrian government to seize additional...

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn, said today that NATO allies will not support Turkey in case of a conflict with Russia, according to Der Spiegel. According to Asselborn, the country of the North Atlantic Alliance does not intend to participate in an escalation in the conflict between Russia and Turkey. The Foreign Minister of Luxembourg underlined that the authorities of all state-members of NATO have a common stance on this issue. "The Alliance should not be drawn into the escalating conflict between Turkey and Russia. The NATO Charter that guarantees mutual defense applies only in the...

After Turkish stab in the back, Putin twists the knife Tom Parfitt The Times January 5, 2016 12:00AM After a Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian bomber in November, President Vladimir Putin complained Turkey's leadership had stabbed Russia in the back. Now he is twisting the knife by cultivating Ankara's old enemy, the Kurds. Last week, Selahattin Demirtas, leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic party, met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow and criticised Turkey for bringing down the Su-24. It is thought unlikely that Moscow would directly fund Kurdish guerillas inside Turkey, but last month the Free Syrian...

Russia's payback against Turkey over shoot-down may turn deadly By Josh Cohen December 15, 2015 It was a clash with ominous Cold War overtones. Turkey's recent destruction of a Russian Su-24 jet was the first time in 63 years a NATO jet shot down a Russian one. Although Ankara claimed the jet was in Turkish territory, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Turkey of a "stab in the back"and being "accomplices of terrorists." Putin subsequently cancelled Russian energy projects in Turkey, and also banned the import of Turkish fruit and vegetables. What Putin said next, though, should send chills down Turkish...

Vladimir Putin was dead serious when he warned Turkey that it would "regret more than once" shooting down a Russian fighter yet. Not only has the Russian president announced all kinds of sanctions against Turkey, but he's now also surrounding the Islamist-led country with his military. As Hurriyet Daily News reports, Putin has sent 14 helicopters to Erebuni Air Base in Armenia. Half of these helicopters are armored Mi-24 attack helicopters, while the other seven are Mi-8 model transport helicopters. Meanwhile, Putin has also sent a submarine called the 'Rostov-on-Don' to the Mediterranean. Russia has a naval base there, and...

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an interview to Rossiya-1 television channel presenter Vladimir Solovyov on Oct. 11. He spoke about the military operation in Syria, fighting with terrorists, and the ambitions of Russian foreign policy. On terrorism “This [the bombing in Ankara] is an attempt to destabilize the situation in Turkey, our neighbor and Russia’s friend. The fact that this has happened during an election campaign is a sign of a clearly provocative act. But we will be effective in combating terrorism only if we fight this evil together.” “I do not understand some of our colleagues in Europe and...