Turkey has condemned remarks by US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden criticizing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and calling for support for the Turkish leader’s opponents.
Biden made the remarks in an interview filmed by the New York Times in December, but a video of the remarks appeared only on Saturday before going viral on social media.
When asked about Erdogan, Biden described the Turkish president as an “autocrat”, criticized his policies towards the Kurds, and pleaded for support from the Turkish opposition.
“What I think we need to do is now take a very different approach for him, making it clear that we support opposition leadership,” Biden said.
“He has to pay a price,” Biden said at the time, adding that Washington would have to support Turkish opposition leaders “to capture and defeat Erdogan. Not by a coup, not by a coup, but by the election process.”
The comments did not provoke much reaction when they were published in January, but the video of the interview triggers an angry reaction from Turkey.
“Turkey’s analysis by @JoeBiden is based on sheer ignorance, arrogance and hypocrisy,” tweeted Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin.
The analysis of Turkey by @JoeBiden is based on pure ignorance, arrogance and hypocrisy.
Gone are the days of ordering turkey around.
But if you still think you can try, be our guest.
You will pay the price.
– Ibrahim Kalin (@ ikalin1) August 16, 2020
“The days of ordering turkey are over. But if you still think you can try, be our guest. You will pay the price.”
Erdogan’s communications director Fahrettin Altun said the comments “reflect games and an interventionist approach to Turkey” and are in line with current diplomatic relations.
“No one can challenge the will and democracy of our nation or call into question the legitimacy of our president, who was elected by popular vote,” Altun said on Twitter.
“We believe that these incomprehensible statements, which have no place in diplomacy by a presidential candidate of our NATO ally, the United States, are also unacceptable to the current administration,” he added.
Biden’s statements also humiliated Erdogan’s opponents, who regularly accused the Turkish government of paying foreign powers.
Several officials of the main CHP opposition party quickly distanced themselves from Biden’s remarks, calling “respect for Turkey’s sovereignty”.
Erdogan has worked to cultivate a personal relationship with current US President Donald Trump – who is running for re-election in November this year – and often clashes with Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.
Biden – who is expected to be Trump’s opponent in the upcoming election – was Obama’s vice president.
Relations between Ankara and Washington became turbulent during Obama’s second term, mainly due to disagreements over Syria and growing international criticism of freedoms and rights in Turkey.
While Trump and Erdogan talk regularly, diplomatic relations have been tight over Ankara’s purchase of Russian air defenses, policies in Syria and over U.S. prosecutors against a Turkish state bank for proving that Iran is evading sanctions.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
.
