“For decades, Turkey has joined forces with the West, with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, with Europe and the United States”.
Advertisement
Gulen has fiercely denied accusations that he was behind the coup, and has alleged that the Turkish president could have staged it himself for his own personal gain – a claim which Erdogan has called “nonsensical”.
“We will discuss all the details”, he said. Turkey would from now on actively join coalition operations with warplanes, he said.
He also pointed out that Turkey and Russian Federation have a common position on the issue of Syria’s territorial integrity.
“Let us come together to concentrate our efforts on Daesh”, he said using an Arabic name for the IS group.
“Our main expectation from the United States is Gulen’s return”, Cavusoglu said.
The NATO administration has repeatedly expressed its commitment and loyalty to the allies since President Erdogan expressed his displeasure with the lack of support from Western institutions, particularly the European Union, during the attempted coup in Turkey, The Daily Express said. However, the Turkish Stream was put on hold as relations between Russia and Turkey got locked in a spat over the downing of a Russian Su-24M bomber on November 24 by the Turkish Air Force’s fighter jet. The incident caused a diplomatic fallout between Russian Federation and Turkey, with Moscow imposing sanctions on Turkey and stopping chartered flights. Artillery fire directed at IS has continued, however. “The Turkish Air Force will in the future take a more active part in operations against the Islamic State as part of the worldwide coalition”, he pledged.
“If we fail to eradicate the terrorist organisation (IS) from head down it will attack all the cells just like an epidemic”, he said.
Praising Turks as “the hero of democracy”, Yildirim added: “Coup plotters believed that they would defeat the nation, but they were mistaken”.
The rear admiral had been working at Nato’s Allied Command Transformation headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, where 26 Turkish military are posted. Many EU states are not eager to see such a large, mostly Muslim country as a member, and are concerned that Ankara’s record on basic freedoms has gone into reverse in recent years. “We will impose the heaviest penalty”, said Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who took the stage late Wednesday to address the crowd before Erdogan.
“In order to prevent that, we need to put into practice the solidarity and cooperation (mechanism) between us including sharing of real time intelligence”.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation said on Wednesday Turkey’s membership of the military alliance is “not in question” following the failed coup in July and stressed its “very clear position” of continued support for Ankara. Russia, meanwhile, a key ally of the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad and has accused Turkey of trading oil with ISIS.
Cavusoglu on Thursday said the Assad regime – which Turkey says is to blame for the killing of hundreds of thousands of people – should not rule the country.
Advertisement
“On Syria, we think the same on the issue of a ceasefire, on humanitarian aid and a political solution”, he said.
