TURKEY-MIDEAST CRISIS/ERDOGAN/BIDEN Turkey's Erdogan demands apology from Biden over Syria comments

Record ID: 217764

  • Title: TURKEY-MIDEAST CRISIS/ERDOGAN/BIDEN Turkey's Erdogan demands apology from Biden over Syria comments
  • Date: 4th October 2014
  • Summary: MURSITPINAR, TURKEY (OCTOBER 4, 2014) (REUTERS) TURKISH OUTPOST ON BORDER ARMOURED VEHICLE DRIVING ALONG THE BORDER / SOLDIERS ISTANBUL, TURKEY (OCTOBER 4, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH PRESIDENT, TAYYIP ERDOGAN, SAYING: "If Biden has used such expressions he will be history for me. I have never made those remarks. Neither at that time when I was the Prime
  • Embargoed: 19th October 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5048SJC67BNK17CR8MLO2RRJK
  • Story Text: A diplomatic row broke out between the United States and Turkey on Saturday (October 4) over comments made by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Turkey's role in Syria.
    Biden said Turkey and other regional countries had been so determined to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that they had supported extremist groups including al Qaeda and al Nusra Front.
    Biden's comments in an address to Harvard students on Thursday (October 2) were the strongest yet from a senior U.S. official on Turkey's alleged support for Islamist groups in Syria's three-year-old civil war.
    Biden said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told him they had made a mistake by letting so many foreign fighters through the Turkish border to fight Assad's forces.
    But speaking after Eid prayers in Istanbul, Erdogan reacted angrily.
    "If Biden has used such expressions he will be history for me. I have never made those remarks. Neither at that time when I was the Prime Minister, nor today, we have never provided help and support to any terrorist organisation - I say terrorist organisation - including the Islamist State. Nobody can prove otherwise," he said.
    He denied Turkey had given assistance to any hardline militant group or allowed foreign fighters to cross the border and demanded an apology from Biden.
    "It is very inappropriate to make such accusations against Turkey. I regret it. The last time we met when I was in the United States, I never said: 'We were wrong, we made a mistake, you were right.' It never happened. If Mr. Biden has made those remarks at Harvard he should apologise," Erdogan said.
    Turkey, which shares a 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria and has NATO's second largest deployable military force, is one of Assad's fiercest critics and a staunch supporter of the opposition, although it denies arming rebels.
    Ankara has backed Syrian rebel groups fighting Assad but strongly denies any suggestion that it has supported Islamic State or other radical Islamist militants, saying they pose a major security threat to Turkey.
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