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Biden apologizes to ErdoÄŸan for ISIL comments

05 October 2014 02:46 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. US Vice President Joe Biden apologized Saturday to Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, who was angry over comments in which Biden said ErdoÄŸan had admitted that Turkey had made mistakes by allowing foreign fighters to cross into Syria, APA reports quoting Today’s Zaman.

ErdoÄŸan denied ever saying that and told reporters in Ä°stanbul before Biden's apology that he "will be history for me if he has indeed used such expressions."

Biden spoke with ErdoÄŸan by phone on Saturday, the White House said.

"The vice president apologized for any implication that Turkey or other allies and partners in the region had intentionally supplied or facilitated the growth of [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] ISIL or other violent extremists in Syria," the White House said.

The spat comes as Turkey, a NATO ally, is expected to define the role it will play in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic state militants who have captured a swath of Iraq and Syria, in some cases right up to the Turkish border.

Biden indicated in a speech at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government on Oct. 2 that the US allies in the region, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, contributed to the rise of ISIL and that ErdoÄŸan, whom he called an old friend, had told him that Turkey had “let too many people through," even though now Turkey is trying to secure the border.

“What happened was, and the history will record this, what my constant cry was that our biggest problem is our allies, our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria. The Turks were great friends and I have a great relationship with ErdoÄŸan, which I spent a lot of time with, the Saudis, the Emiratis, etc. What were they doing? They were so determined to take down Assad … what did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad. Except that the people who were being supplied were al-Nusra, and al-Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world,” Biden said in his speech.

He said the US could not convince its allies to stop supplying ISIL but now everybody in the region is awakened and the US has been able to put together a coalition of Sunni allies “because America can't once again go into a Muslim nation and be the aggressor. It has to be led by Sunnis to go and attack a Sunni organization.”

“So what do we have for the first time? Now, Saudi Arabia has stopped the funding going on ... The Qataris have cut off their support for the most extreme elements of the terrorist organizations. And the Turks, President ErdoÄŸan told me, he is an old friend, said you were right. We let too many people through. Now they are trying to seal their border,” said Biden.

Biden and ErdoÄŸan had a meeting in New York on Sept. 25, on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly meeting.

ErdoÄŸan said before Biden's apology that no foreign fighter has crossed into Syria via Turkish territory. “There might have been people traveling on tourist visa but no one with arms has ever crossed the Turkish border,” he said.

Prime Minister Ahmet DavutoÄŸlu also rejected Biden's remarks, saying Turkey is the only country that cannot be held responsible for what happened in Syria. “It is impossible to accept Biden's statement. If they had listened to Turkey at the beginning, none of this would have happened,” he said.

In a statement earlier in the day, Biden's spokeswoman said the vice president "respects and admires" ErdoÄŸan but did not offer an apology.

Turkish daily Hürriyet quoted Biden's spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff as saying that Biden was trying to explain that neither the US nor its allies were sufficiently knowledgeable about various elements within the Syrian opposition but, now that everyone is aware of the threat, the US and the allies are ready to face it together.