Turkey Adopts a Defiant Stance Toward Russia

Turkey announced today that the man accused of killing Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov, whose Su-24 was shot down in November by Turkish air defenses, has been freed. The shooting down of the jet and the death of the pilot put a freeze on relations between Turkey and Russia that has yet to thaw. Turkish-Russian hostilities are more complicated than the downing of a plane, or the shooting of a pilot, yet the decision to release accused shooter Alparslan Celik clearly signals that relations between Turkey and Russia will remain sour....