"President Erdoğan told me, he is an old friend, said you were right, we let too many people through, now we are trying to seal the border," Biden said during a speech on foreign policy at Harvard Kennedy School on Oct. 2.
While speaking to the students for nearly an hour and a half, Biden defended the U.S. foreign policy, stressing that the White House was not late to move against the rise of the ISIL.
He said that the regional allies of the U.S, determined to take down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, "poured hundreds of millions dollars, and tens thousands of tones of weapons into anyone who would fight against al-Assad, accepted the people who would be in supply for Al Nusra and Al Qaeda and extremist elements of jihadists coming from other parts of the world."
"Our biggest problem is our allies. Our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria. The Turks, we’re great friends and I have a great relationship with Erdoğan that I spent a lot of time with. The Saudis, The Emiratis etc... What were they doing?" Biden asked.
"So now what is happening, all of sudden everybody is awakened," Biden added, claiming that like Turkey admitted its mistakes, Saudi Arabia and Qatar stopped the funding of jihadists.
"Now we have and the president has been able to put together a coalition of our Sunni neighbors, because America can’t once again go in to a Muslim nation and be the aggressive. It has to be led by Sunnis to go and attack a Sunni organization," Biden said.
"They voted in the Turkish parliament to allow Turkish ground forces in the take on ISIL, Turkish airspace be able to be used by NATO and by other allies, Turkish airspace be able to accommodate our drones ... I took a while for Turkey, a Sunni nation, to figure out that ISIL was a direct and immediate threat to their well-being."
With similar remarks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had recently placed the blame for the rise of the ISIL on those who resorted to any means to oust al-Assad, creating what he called a “sloppy process.”
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-vice-president-biden-says-turkish-president-erdogan-admitted-isil-mistake.aspx?pageID=238&nID=72530&NewsCatID=359
3/10/14
--
-
Related:
Obama says U.S. underestimates rise of Islamic State. (also blamed the civil war in Syria for giving rise to the group)
Αναποτελεσματική η στρατηγική κατά του ISIS/ISIL
----
*** Friends of Syria
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
Residents of a Turkish border town, an hour's drive from where Islamic State is battling for control of Kobani, appreciate the quiet they say the Sunni militants brought when they swiftly seized neighboring Syrian territory....
ReplyDeleteMonths of infighting last year between Islamist groups and the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a rebel group aiming to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, kept Akcakale residents on their toes with daily explosions and mortar shells.
But life has got easier in the southeastern Turkish town since Islamic State took charge over the border in Tel Abyad in January. Residents say they make better neighbors even though they have no sympathy for the militants' cause.
"No more gun fire, no more chaos. I know it will sound bizarre but I'd rather have Islamic State on the border than the Free Syrian Army (FSA)," Mustafa Kaymaz, 35, a shopkeeper in said as he pointed toward the border gate.......................http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/23/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-town-idUSKCN0IC0YV20141023?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
23/10/14