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ISTANBUL, April 5-- As Russian President Vladimir Putin's latest visit puts Turkey's flourishing ties with Russia in the spotlight, analysts expect the rapprochement to continue amid Ankara's ongoing rifts with the U.S. and NATO. With its frustration with Western allies continuing to grow in the past years, Ankara has significantly boosted its ties with Moscow following a stormy period sparked by Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet in November 2017. Russia is building the first nuclear power plant in Turkey, a 20 billion-U.S.-dollar project, based on an agreement concluded in 2010. During his two-day visit that ended on Wednesday, Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan jointly laid the foundation for the plant. Many feel, however, Turkey may well in the long term be forced by its interests to turn to its Western allies while keeping good relations with Moscow. Turkey's honeymoon with Russia is probably "neither sustainable nor irreversible in the long run," Faruk Logoglu, a former senior diplomat, told Xinhua in an interview. But, long-term strategic interests dictate that Turkey stays in NATO, pursues EU accession and mends relations with the U.S., while maintaining close ties with Russia, Logoglu argued. Apparently, the Turkey-Russia rapprochement is also yielding fruits in the sensitive area of defense. Despite repeated warnings from the U.S. and NATO, Ankara seems determined to buy the S-400 air defense system from Moscow, as Erdogan declared at a joint press conference with Putin that the issue was now over and done with, signaling that Ankara would not back out of the deal under pressure. | 
