On Saturday night, Erdogan held his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin since ties between Moscow and Ankara entered a new phase following an August 9 meeting in St. Petersburg. Erodgan has railed against the West for not standing with its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, but that all changed this weekend.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said U.S and Turkey must adopt a common attitude against terrorism.
Obama, speaking at the G20 summit in China, praised the Turkish people who resisted the coup attempt, saying they “affirmed their commitment to democracy” and that they are “the strength and brilliance of democratic institutions”.
“I indicated at the time the unequivocal condemnation of these actions and spoke personally to president Erdogan to offer any support that we might be able to provide in both ending the attempted coup, but also in investigating and bringing perpetrators of these illegal actions to justice”, Obama said.
“We’re not there yet, and, understandably, given the previous failures of cessations of hostilities to hold, we approach it with some skepticism, but it is worth trying”, he said.
But with previous ceasefire agreements in Syria having failed, the president said USA officials remain skeptical that talks will produce lasting peace.
Gulen has lived in exile in Pennsylvania since the 1990s, prompting speculation from Turkish authorities that the USA used Gulen as a puppet to instigate the uprising to unseat Erdogan. Ankara has demanded the U.S. extradite Gulen to face charges, but Washington has said it needs to see evidence of his involvement, raising tensions between the allies.
While Vladimir Putin-led Russian government has backed Assad in the conflict, US backs opposition forces that are up against Assad.
Obama tracks down Erdogan for a brief private conversation after they gave remarks to reporters following their bilateral meeting alongside the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China.
“This coup was serious”, he said in a CNN interview broadcast Sunday.
Obama said Sunday the US-UK “special relationship” would persist as Britain works to exit the European Union. “More details about their discussion were expected later Monday, but U.S. officials said before the summit that Syria and Ukraine would likely be on the agenda of an Obama-Putin huddle”.
Mr. Obama called the discussion on Syria “productive” about what a real cessation of hostilities would actually look like. “And despite the turbulence of political events over the last several months, we have every intention to making sure that that continues”.
May insisted during a joint appearance with Obama that exit negotiations would move forward.
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“Brexit does indeed mean Brexit”, she said.
