I'm John Betts with Gregory Copley, Defense and Foreign Affairs, and he introduces me to a combination of

states that had never claimed to me could see mutual self-interest. Turkey, the remains of the Ottoman

Empire, the remains of the Roman Empire, around Istanbul, one's called Constantinople.

Syria, recently in civil war, very badly damaged, a population that fled all directions,

a lot of people in Europe.

And Ukraine, a troubled nation under attack, destroyed industrial base, but now reinventing

itself as the master drone maker and designer of

the planet Earth. I don't name them idly because Gregory is pointing to meetings that have taken

place in these last days with the foreign ministers and the leaders of these three states seeing

common purpose. To what end, Gregory? Thank you.

Well, it's fundamentally about Turkey trying to position itself at the center of the,

the center of the universe, if you like,

in the junction of Europe and Asia and the Eurasian landmass there,

so that they would influence or bring in Ukraine to the north,

which needs real allies, not just people to give them money,

and they need Syria as well,

which Turkey has been trying to take over since a year ago.

What's happened is that, and we've got this fabulous report, which we produced today by

one of my colleagues, Lieutenant General, retired Lieutenant General Lazaroz Camporevius.

He's our Near East Bureau Chief, but he was probably the most experienced

intelligence official in that region, 40 or 50 years experience in that area, including a lot

of time on the ground discreetly in Turkey.

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