U.S Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim walk to review a guard of honour before a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016. Biden called on Turkish authorities on Wednesda.
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Visiting Ankara on Wednesday, Vice President Biden said “God willing” there would be enough evidence to extradite Gulen, and that he wished the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) leader was in another country. The head of Political Science and International Relations Department at Bahçeşehir University (BAU) in Turkey has an opinion piece in Aljazeera regarding the situation.
But Ankara’s objective went beyond fighting extremists.
That promise, fragile at best, does not seem to be holding as YPG units advanced further north towards the Turkish border and prompted Turkish cross-border artillery fire into Syria against both YPG and ISIL positions. It reportedly was meant to do so, as Turkey seeks to avoid allowing the Kurds to control territory near and within it borders.
“We have no interest whatsoever in protecting anyone who has done harm to an ally, but we need to meet the legal standard requirement under our law”.
Operation Euphrates Shield entails invading Syria and establishing a buffer zone, in blatant violation of Syrian sovereignty.
Even with the cool reception for Biden, cooperation between the USA and Turkey continued unimpeded in the battle against Islamic State. Turkey accuses the group of links to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
On the roads in Ankara, protesters greeted Biden’s convoy with placards reading, “What if [Osama] bin Laden would be in Turkey and we didn’t give him to you after 9/11?”
He said US use of the Incirlik air base in southeastern Turkey “remains the lynchpin” for carrying out air strikes against Islamic State fighters.
Turkey’s Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar will meet his Russian counterpart Valery Gerasimov in Ankara on Friday, a military source said Thursday. “None”, Biden said. But the standards required under US law must be met, he said.
That stance angers the Turkish government, which contends that the PYD/YPG is no different to the PKK, with which it is affiliated. Washington backs the Syrian Kurdish YPG rebels against Islamic State. An Associated Press journalist saw three armored vehicles cross the border, followed by a heavy construction vehicle.
Jarabulus has served as ISIS’s main smuggling route, and ISIS uses the town to control illicit trade in the area, and to ferry in foreign fighters hoping to join its ranks. “It is totally understandable why the people of Turkey are angry”, he said.
The vice president also expressed “admiration” to the Turkish people for taking to the streets during the coup attempt to “take back” their democracy. He said the Turkish-backed operation had two main goals – to secure the Turkish border area and to make sure the Syrian Kurdish forces “are not there”. Biden said after a meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who sat stern-faced alongside him during a briefing with reporters.
“For now, the withdrawal hasn’t fully taken place”.
Turkeys’ private NTV television says as many as 20 tanks had crossed into Syria.
“Having technical team from the USA on the ground is a clear sign from your side that you’re taking this seriously and attaching great importance to it”, Yıldırım told Biden.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Kurdish forces appeared to be on the move south of the newly captured town of Jarablus, making the potential for all-out confrontation all the more possible overnight.
Despite his vocal support for the terrorist group, the Obama administration has drawn Turkey into counterterror initiatives – notably its Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), which Turkey co-chaired from 2011 to 2015.
It says: “Fighting terrorism can not be undertaken by ousting Daesh and replacing it with other terrorist organizations directly backed by Turkey”.
“This is our official warning to the Kurds”, Cavusoglu said.
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Turkish President Erdogan said, “Right now, unfortunately, all the attacks that happened in Gaziantep and Kilis…brought this issue to this point”. Also pointed out is the matter of USA concerns for the massive arrests.
