Vice President Joe Biden appeared in Turkey Wednesday to re-affirm that the United States of America had no prior knowledge of the Turkish coup by the “cowardly” military and to also explain the slow walk of the American legal process in delivering the nemesis cleric being blamed for the July 15 coup, Fethullah Gulen, according to various media sources.
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Demands for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, in exile since 1999, and Turkish perceptions of an unsympathetic Western response to the coup soured relations between the United States and Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation partner in the US -led war on Islamic State.
Turkish forces are aiming to take control of the city of Jarabulus from the Islamic State, which is its last stronghold on the Turkey border.
In a press conference at Çankaya Palace following his meeting with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, Biden said the United States was committed to helping the Turks bring to justice those responsible for the coup attempt.
“If the extradition process of this terrorist leader could accelerate, if our cooperation on this matter continues like this, the Turkish people will quickly recover from their sadness and disappointment”, the premier said.
“We have no interest in protecting anyone who has done harm to an ally, but we’re obliged to obey the law”, said Biden. “But we need to meet legal standard requirements under our law”. Gulen has denied any involvement and condemned the military rebellion during which soldiers commandeered tanks and jets to attack government buildings.
USA relations with Turkey have sunk to their lowest level in decades.
Turkey has demanded Fethullah Gulen’s extradition and Erdogan has suggested that failure to do so is damaging the U.S. -Turkey security partnership.
Yildirim said Wednesday that while the Turkish government accepts the United States assertion that it wasn’t involved, there may be some people in the country who believe differently and he pointedly suggested the successful extradition of Gulen could affect those perceptions.
“The US administration, President Obama and Mr”. Last month’s attempted coup to remove Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, from power, only worsened matters.
“Working through the [extradition] process will take time”.
Biden stressed Wednesday that the decision of whether to extradite Gulen would be handled by a judge, not the President.
Anti-American sentiment has been on the rise in Turkey since the coup.
He also gave his condolences and expressed solidarity with the people of Turkey, following the Islamic State attack at a wedding that left 54 people, many of them children, dead.
U. S. Vice-President Joe Biden, left, and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim arrive for a news conference in Ankara, Turkey on Wednesday.
The U.S. State Department said this week that documents submitted so far by Ankara constituted a formal extradition request, although not on issues related to the coup.
Since the July 15 failed coup, Turkey has rounded up tens of thousands of people accused of having links to Gulen’s organization.
“Biden was hitting the right notes in terms of what political messages Turkey wanted to hear”, said Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Ankara.
Erdogan seemed to lecture Biden, who at times looked tired and placed his forehead in his hands.
“We have made it absolutely clear that they [pro-Kurdish forces] must go back across the [Euphrates] River”. “Remember the confusion after 9/11?” Let’s give this some time. “I believe they mean what they say and so let’s move on”.
The Americans have pushed Turkey to step up in the fight against ISIS and other jihadists, and as the vice-president landed on Turkish soil, those calls were answered.
Biden was guided by Turkish officials around the parliament, which was bombed during the coup attempt. U.S. forces have relied on Incirlik for launching air strikes and conducting surveillance and reconnaissance missions against the terror group.
“I understand the intense feeling your government and the people of Turkey have about him [Gulen]”.
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“Can you imagine us being happy with another military state (in Turkey)?” Biden said after seeing windows blown out by the blast, broken glass and rubble in the complex’s courtyard. “You have to say “this is a guy or a woman who committed the following explicit crime” said Biden.
