Obama expressed “US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation support for Turkey’s right to defend its sovereignty”, the White House statement added.
Advertisement
President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday that Russian Federation would be welcome in their global anti-extremist coalition – as long as it concentrates efforts on striking the Islamic State rather than on protecting the Syrian regime.
“We have never forgotten how the French people stood with us after 9/11”, said Mr Obama, standing next to Mr Hollande in the White House’s East Room in remarks that were personal and emotional.
French President Francois Hollande flies into Washington on Tuesday seeking support for his newly declared war on the Islamic State group after the Paris attacks, while the U.S. announced a worldwide travel alert for its citizens.
Obama acknowledged fear among Americans of a Paris-style attack in the United States and urged Europe to share more intelligence on people travelling between Europe and the Middle East.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Obama said that he and Mr Hollande had agreed that the nations in the US-led coalition must do more together to fight the “barbaric terrorist group”.
After meeting with Hollande at the White House, Obama declared “total solidarity” with France, saying his planned trip next week to Paris for a climate change summit is a “powerful rebuke” to terrorism.
Both presidents said they would be willing to work with Russian Federation only if it agrees to refocus its military campaign on targeting ISIS and not on propping up President Bashar Al-Assad. The coalition has also been launching airstrikes against militants’ targets in neighboring Iraq since August 2014. Efforts to train and equip moderate rebel groups in Syria have struggled, though Obama has authorized the deployment of 50 special operations forces to the country to jumpstart the program. Monday, he met with British Prime Minister David Cameron, who called for Britain to join the ranks of those already bombing Islamic State’s home base, Syria.
Hollande wants the U.S.-led coalition to start cooperating with Russian Federation, which is also launching airstrikes in Syria.
The French president said that, while his country intends to “intensify the strikes” against the IS, “France will not intervene militarily on the ground”.
THE diplomatic crisis between Russian Federation and Nato-member Turkey cast a shadow over talks between France and the USA in Washington yesterday.
As the two leaders spoke, a joint French and American raid struck an Islamic State command centre in Iraq. “We do not want to exclude anyone”, he said.
However, Hollande said France will not put troops on the ground in Syria to fight the IS.
He has said greater cooperation between the United States and Russian Federation is required in battling ISIS, though persistent USA skepticism about Putin’s intentions in Syria have until now prevented any significant military coordination between the two countries.
The quagmire in Syria has dragged on for almost five years, and criticism of Obama’s strategy appears only to grow louder.
On Sunday, both Democratic Sen.
Advertisement
Obama said: “Turkey, like every country, has a right to defend its territory and its air space”, adding he expected to speak to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in coming days.
