Last week’s meeting between Syria and Turkey in Moscow show that Russia’s standing in the West Asian region is far from defined by the Ukraine conflict

Turkey has played a key role in prolonging the war in Syria by aiding anti-government forces and by launching repeated incursions into country under the pretext of targeting the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) forces

Turkey claimed that it was targeting the YPG, the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Party (PKK), which it blamed for attacks in Istanbul last week. The PKK has denied any responsibility for the attacks