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Burak Bekdil

Burak Bekdil

Burak Bekdil is an Ankara-based columnist. He regularly writes for the Gatestone Institute and Defense News, and is a fellow at the Middle East Forum. He is also a founder of, and associate editor at, the Ankara-based think tank Sigma.

In theory, Turkey’s relations with Russia have never been brighter. However, behind the nice façade lie a deep ideological divide, mutual mistrust and diverging regional interests.
“The process of gathering the Turkish media industry in one hand according to the Putin model is completed,” wrote Kadri Gürsel, a veteran journalist.
Russia has given Turkey a limited free hand in its engagement in northern Syria, mainly to deepen U.S.-Turkish and NATO-Turkish divisions. But Russia is not Turkey’s strategic ally.