{"id":29853,"date":"2017-05-17T05:31:24","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T05:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=29853"},"modified":"2017-05-17T05:31:24","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T05:31:24","slug":"trump-welcomes-erdogan-amid-us-turkey-strains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/trump-welcomes-erdogan-amid-us-turkey-strains.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump welcomes Erdogan amid US-Turkey strains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTrump welcomes Erdogan amid US-Turkey strains<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span>
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\n\tPresident Donald Trump, in hosting Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House Tuesday, extended his latest warm welcome to an authoritarian-style leader who had a strained relationship with the previous US administration.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWe've had a great relationship and we will make it even better," Trump said in the Oval Office as he sat beside Erdogan. "We look forward to having very strong and solid discussions."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t"We face a new enemy in the fight against terrorism, and again we seek to face this threat together," said Trump. Despite Trump's greeting to the Turkish leader, the relationship has been strained by the US refusal to extradite a Turkish cleric living in Pennsylvania whom Erdogan blames for orchestrating a July coup attempt against him.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd the two countries are at odds over Trump's decision to arm Kurdish militias that are helping in the fight to rout ISIS from its Syrian stronghold in Raqqa. Turkey sees these militias, which are widely seen as the most effective fighting force on the ground, as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which is considered a terrorist group in the US, Turkey and Europe.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tErdogan repeatedly stressed the start of a new era in close US-Turkey cooperation in fighting terrorism as well as building economic and trade ties, saying that he and Trump were "laying a foundation of a new era of relations between our two countries."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut he didn't pass up the opportunity to register his unhappiness about the cleric Fethullah Gulen, now living in Pennsylvania, or about the US supplying arms to the Kurdish YPG group that's helping Syrian rebels fight IS.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Turkish leader said that Turkey had "notified our friends" about Gulen's alleged involvement in the coup. And he said that the YPG's involvement in the fight against ISIS "will never be accepted and it's going to be against the global agreement we have reached."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tErdogan is in Washington to try to convince the US President to reverse the decision to arm the Kurdish fighters and to brief Trump on a proposed peace plan for Syria that Ankara has reached with Russia and Iran, and involves the creation of four de-escalation zones within the country.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTurkey, a NATO member, is a vital ally in the fight against ISIS, allowing the US to use its Incirlik air base in the fight against the terror group. Relations were strained, if businesslike, for the last few years as the Obama administration distanced itself from Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian rule.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tA bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote Trump Tuesday to ask him to raise human rights with Erdogan, given the increasing repression in his country. They cited the weakening of democratic institutions, stifling of fundamental human rights, mass arrests and civil society restrictions that have been taking place even before a constitutional referendum in April gave Erdogan increased powers and extended his time in office.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t"Erdogan and his allies have mounted an assault on the rule of law, particularly using sweeping state of emergency authorities to stifle fundamental rights including free speech, undermine the independence of the judiciary, and quash any opposition to their undemocratic actions," said the letter signed by Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez and 15 others senators.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump didn't touch on any of the disagreements and instead praised Turkey's efforts in the war against ISIS and for its fight against internal terrorist attacks. He stressed that the US would "offer our support to Turkey" in its fight against terrorism and that they would "reinvigorate our trade and commercial ties."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t"These are areas where we can rebuild our relationship," Trump said.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tA short official readout of the meeting further reiterated the need to work together in combating terrorism "in all its forms" and the "deep and diverse relationship" between the two nations. It also referenced the incarceration of US national, Andrew Brunson, an evangelical Presbyterian pastor from North Carolina, who is currently detained in Turkey on charges relating to terrorism. Trump, the readout claimed, asked that the Turkish Government "expeditiously return him to the United States."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump was one of very few world leaders who called Erdogan to congratulate him on winning the referendum, which was preceded by widespread arrests of his opponents and was so narrowly won that many questioned its legitimacy.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAll Trump's interactions with Erdogan are overshadowed by his family's business holdings in the country. In a 2015 interview with Breitbart News, Trump told Steve Bannon — now his adviser — that "I have a little conflict of interest because I have a major, major building in Istanbul."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the presidential campaign, when Trump was calling for a ban on Muslims entering the country and floating the idea of a Muslim registry, Erdogan called for the then-candidate's name to be removed from Istanbul's Trump Towers, saying Trump had "no tolerance for Muslims."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a separate meeting at the White House, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, met with his Turkish counterpart, Minister of Defense Fikri Is\u0131k. According to a readout of the meeting provided to the press by the pentagon, the two men discussed efforts to combat the PKK, and the crisis in Syria.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSource:- http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2017\/05\/16\/politics\/trump-erdogan-visit\/index.html<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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