by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR
The great game in Central Asia has a history of occasionally turning rough. Turkey may have become its latest victim.
Prima facie, there is nothing linking Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s health condition, an English stud horse by the name Islander One and the extension of the lease for the United States air base at Manas in Kyrgyzstan.
But Gul, being a gifted politician, apparently sensed there could well be, and after landing at Bishkek on the eve of the summit meeting of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTSS) taking place in the Kyrgyz capital on Thursday, he had the premonition that a political storm was about to break out in the steppes, and he quickly made himself scarce.
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