Nick Burns: Russia in Turkey a ‘Snapshot’ of America’s ‘Declining Influence’ in the Region

BURNS: "Russia is now the dynamic power so the Turks are looking to the Russians, not so much for leadership but just for cooperation. The Turks need to protect their border with Syria. They have taken the largest number of Syrian refugees. They want to protect the Turkmen population and ethnic group in northern Syria and they want to prevent the Syrian Kurds from dominating that region. Putin allows them to do that and there’s a tacit understanding between Putin and Erdogan. The United States are pretty much out of the picture so I do think it's an image, a snapshot of the decline of American influence in that region."