Obama says Turkey “has a right to defend its territory and its airspace”.
Advertisement
Washington and Paris have both stepped up their fight against IS in Syria, with France launching its first strikes from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean and the USA calling for more worldwide cooperation against the jihadists.
“I think it is very important for us to right now make sure that both the Russians and the Turks are talking to each other and find out exactly what happened, and take measures to discourage any kind of escalation”, Obama told reporters.
When taking questions, however, Mr Hollande said France “would not act militarily on the ground”. The French President has repeatedly stated that the fight against terrorism is impossible without Russia’s participation.
Hollande has said France will press forward with its plans to accept 30,000 Syrian refugees.
Hollande said the two leaders agreed on the importance of closing the Turkish border to limit the movement of extremists into Europe.
“Russia is the outlier”, Obama said during a joint White House news conference with Hollande.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Turkey’s allegations, saying that the jet was 1 kilometer inside Syria before being targeted.
The White House reiterated that criticism on Monday with Earnest noting that Russian Federation continues to undermine worldwide efforts to reach a political settlement in Syria by “propping up” the regime of Assad. “Even as we are vigilant we can not and will not succumb to fear…”
President Obama has been more publicly skeptical of Moscow’s role.
Hollande wants the U.S.-led coalition to start co-operating with Russian Federation, which is also launching air strikes in Syria. Efforts to train and equip moderate rebel groups in Syria have struggled, and Obama has authorized the deployment of 50 special operations forces to the country to jump start the program.
But Obama said his top priority “is going to be to ensure that this does not escalate”.
But beyond reiterating that America stands in “total solidarity” with France in the fight against IS, he did not propose any significant changes to the USA strategy against IS.
U.S. President Barack obama has chose to join forces with France in eliminating ISIS.
“And given the shocking images, I know that Americans have been asking each other where – whether it’s safe here, whether it’s safe to fly or gather”, he said, referring to the series of strikes on November 13 in Paris that killed 130 people.
The two leaders held the meeting to strengthen the coalition against the Islamic State in the wake of the horrific Paris terrorist attack by the dreaded terror group.
From Washington, Hollande will travel to Moscow for meetings with Putin.
“If Francois Hollande wants to turn up the dial or the volume – however much he wants to do it, either a little bit or a lot – he nearly certainly has to do that with the willing cooperation of the United States“, Shurkin said.
The downing of a Russian jet by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Turkey on Tuesday followed by Moscow’s renewed bombardment of Western-backed Syrian rebels appears to have put an end to such talk, leaving at best an effort to better coordinate action.
Advertisement
“Apparently, Hollande will bring to Moscow some settings received in Washington, however, Russian Federation has its own position on this issue”.
