Biden said the US stands “shoulder to shoulder” with Turkey and did not support the failed coup attempt on July 15. However, since then relations have taken a turn for the worst.
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Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Turkey today on what’s being seen as a fence-mending mission.
“They have not provided extradition requests on anything related to Gulen’s involvement in the coup attempt”, he told reporters of the Turkish authorities, adding that the four requests are “all related to allegations of criminal behavior that predated the coup”. Senior administration officials acknowledged ahead of the trip that anything short of Gulen’s return would be a disappointment to the Turks, and said that raw feelings were understandable in the aftermath of a coup attempt that shook the people and leadership of the country. “But the agreement between the United States and Turkey requires the detention of such people”.
A legal review of the request is now underway at the Justice and State Departments, and officials from the Obama administration were sent to Ankara to discuss the issue with the Turks.
Erdogan, meanwhile, said Gulen should be taken into pre-trial detention and held until a trial.
Biden sidestepped a question of whether he raised human rights concerns in the private meeting with the prime minister.
A US Justice Department delegation is already in Ankara ahead of Biden’s visit to discuss the details of the case with its Turkish counterparts. The United States backs the Syrian Kurdish YPG in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.
Turkey launched the offensive to prevent the Kurdish elements operating with the Syrian Democratic Forces militia to push too far west after helping to regain control of strategic towns in Syria’s north, according to a Wednesday morning analysis from Texas-based intelligence analysis firm Stratfor.
Biden agreed, saying, “We have made it absolutely clear.that they [pro-Kurdish forces] must go back across the river”.
Syria’s government has denounced Turkish military incursion, describing it as Turkey’s “blatant violation” of Syrian sovereignty.
By late afternoon, rebel units with the Free Syrian Army had swept into the center of the Syrian town of Jarabulus, the Islamic State’s last foothold on the Turkish border.
The move was viewed with alarm in Turkey, which considers the YPG a wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group that has been fighting an insurgency against the Turkish state for three decades. “Even though they appear to be fighting against Islamic State, the United States should know that at the end of the day, you may wipe out a terrorist organisation with another terrorist organisation but how you will defeat the other terrorist organisation will be another question”.
One issue that needs to be communicated carefully during this visit is who will control the territories liberated from ISIL.
GREENE: Now, let’s remember, Turkey is an important ally for the United States.
Wednesday’s operation puts Turkey on track for a confrontation with the Kurdish fighters in Syria.
“As the chairman of the Turkish-American Friendship Society in the Turkish parliament, I can assure you that we are committed to this alliance”. Furthermore, they can not be activated without a code.
“A final pressing matter while Biden is in Turkey appears to be what Abet describes as “… the need for readjustment of U.S. public diplomacy towards Turkey”.
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“We did not have prior knowledge, we did not support, we immediately condemned, and we continue as we did before the coup to stand shoulder to shoulder not only with the government of Turkey but with the people of Turkey”.
