Turkey's president bashes Biden admin as being 'arm-in-arm' with terrorists

• Author: SETH J. FRANTZMAN
• Published date: 30 September 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Turkey opposes the US role in eastern Syria, where the US helped the local Syrian Democratic Forces defeat ISIS. Ankara's ruling party, which has backed extremists in northern Syria and has ethnically cleansed Kurds, Christians and Yazidis, has frequently bashed the US in the past.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

>

Turkey singled out US White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk in the recent attack by Erdogan on the Biden administration. Turkey's Daily Sabah, a pro-government daily, said Erdogan was "speaking to reporters on his way back from Sochi, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday."

"McGurk supports terrorism and has almost become the PKK/YPG/PYD's manager," Erdogan was quoted as saying.

"It deeply disturbs me that this man is arm in arm with terrorists in an area where I'm fighting them," he reportedly said.

The comments were reported in leading Turkish media, indicating that the ruling party wants the comments to be known widely.

Turkey has slammed McGurk and Biden in the past. During the US election campaign in 2020, Ankara and its media, which is almost all linked to the ruling party, often slammed Biden and was openly pro-Trump.

Turkey's ruler, Erdogan, had close relations with Trump and often tried to use the media to get favors from the US, such as trying to portray the SDF as linked to "Antifa" during riots in the US.

In 2018, Turkey accused the US of training terrorists in eastern Syria. When Ankara uses the term "terrorists," it frequently refers to Kurdish political groups on the far Left. There is no evidence of any "terrorism" by these groups in Syria.

The US views HTS, a group linked to al-Qaeda that has worked with Turkey in Idlib province, as being a terrorist group similar to ISIS.

The US has also sanctioned Ahrar al-Sharqiya, a Turkey-backed extremist group, for abuses in October 2019 when Turkey invaded and occupied part of northern Syria.

This means that both Turkey and the US appear to accuse each other of backing terrorists. The main difference is that groups such as Ahrar al-Sharqiya and HTS have engaged in...