If nothing else, you can’t blame Erdogan for being committed to trying to game both sides of the proverbial geopolitical fence.
(Pay no mind to his glaring hypocrisy on the matter of Turkey’s claim over northern Cyprus.)
The Turks are still miffed about Catherine the Great beating the Turks and then buying Crimea, back before the USA ratified its Constitution.
If Russia buying Crimea from the Turks [in gold] 240 years ago doesn’t seal the deal, I guess America needs to give back the Louisiana Purchase, the Southwest, California, Alaska and Hawaii.