Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his recent talks with US President Joe Biden were disappointing and that his country will seek closer relations with Russia.
Speaking in Istanbul, Erdogan said he and Biden had failed to bridge their differences. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“In the negotiations with President Biden, which I expected, the desired result was not achieved … As two NATO countries, we probably have two different points of view,” the Turkish president told reporters.
Criticism of US actions
Erdogan criticized US support for Kurdish militants in Syria, who played a key role in the fight against the Islamic State. However, Ankara considers them to be terrorists because of their ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has rebelled against the Turkish government for 37 years.
Although the PKK is also considered a terrorist organization in the US and the EU, Erdogan says that “America is not tough enough to fight terrorist organizations, but supports them with weapons and military equipment.”
As reported by AP, Erdogan is to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 29 at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, and their talks will focus on the situation in Syria.
Russia is the main ally of the Syrian government, and Turkey supports groups that fought to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. However, Russian and Turkish forces collaborated in Idlib, the last stronghold of the rebel forces, and in pursuit of a political solution in a country ravaged by civil war.
Erdogan said that during the meeting with Putin he will try to strengthen relations with Moscow. “We strive to further develop our bilateral relations with Russia,” he stressed.
Relations between the United States and Turkey have been strained for several years, and they deteriorated further two years ago when Ankara acquired the Russian S-400 missile defense system. This purchase led to the suspension of the sale of F-35 fighters to Turkey and the imposition of US sanctions on senior officials of the Turkish defense industry.