Foreign Policy: Erdogan Uses Closed-Door Meeting to Blast Obama Administration
The Turkish president told a gathering of academics and former government officials that the White House was wrong to back the Kurds in the fight against the Islamic State.
Facing a high-profile snub from the White House and a growing chasm with the United States over human rights and press freedoms, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan courted Washington’s top think tank luminaries on Tuesday night in an effort to rehabilitate his image and criticize the Obama administration’s policies in Syria.
During a private dinner at Washington’s high-end St. Regis Hotel, a defiant Erdogan ripped the American media’s coverage of his administration’s policies and bashed the White House’s support for Kurdish fighters in Syria. Washington sees the Kurds as their most valuable proxies in the ground battle against the Islamic State, but Erdogan views them as terrorists aligned with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a militant group struggling for autonomy. Kurdish militants have been tied to several recent bombings inside Turkey.
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WNU Editor: He is also blaming Europe for the mess in the Middle East .... Erdogan says European countries allowed terror threat to spread (CNN). Not surprising .... President Obama is not going to meet Turkey's President this week, that thankless job has been given to Vice President Biden .... Turkey's Erdogan to meet with Biden on summit sidelines: White House (Reuters).
Obama does not have a Syrian policy.
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