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Is US-Turkey alliance at a breaking point?

After meeting with Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slams US (again), but ties between Turkey and Russia have their own strains and limits.

Erdogan Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Sochi on Sept. 29. — VLADIMIR SMIRNOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

The obligatory references to the US and Turkey as NATO "allies" and "partners" increasingly fall flat, as bilateral relations may be approaching the breaking point over differences on Russia and Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who met on Sept. 29 with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, said that Turkey is not only going ahead with the purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, which has led to US sanctions, but is considering deeper defense cooperation with Russia, including development of aircraft engines, ship building and warplanes, as we report here.

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