Rose Asani

Is Putin and Erdogan’s bromance back on?

At a luncheon to mark a thawing of relations between Turkey and Russia this week, the diners were given a particular treat. I’m not talking about Beluga caviar, though it may have been on the menu, but rather the special crockery bearing the image of each country’s presidents set out at each placing. The idea of having Putin and Erdogan beaming at me from ceremonial plates doesn’t appeal hugely, but it seems to have set some of my Turkish colleagues off in raptures. For them the ‘bromance’ is back on. I’m not so sure.

The plates were commissioned to mark a meeting between the two men in June 2015. Since then they had probably been idly collecting dust in the back of some massive Kremlin vault, stored away after Turkey shot down a Russian jet which briefly invaded its airspace a few months later. A quick dust over and they were put on display as a show of unity between two leaders the West deals with, but openly views with suspicion and to varying degrees, disdain.

During Erdogan’s first official foreign trip since the failed-coup in Turkey almost a month ago, there were the expected photo opportunities; Putin breaking into a sly smile as he clasped his hand around that of his counterpart, while Erdogan looked less than happy to be there. Despite the talk of ‘normalising’ relations and renewed plans for a joint venture to build a nuclear station being put back on the table, Erdogan has much reason to be downcast. In a game of chicken between the two men, he most certainly lost.

When Erdogan refused to pick up the phone last year and apologise to Putin for the jet incident, he was attempting to show he was in a position of power and wasn’t going to beg for forgiveness.

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