Aiming to head off a rift between major Mideast players, President Barack Obama urged Turkey and Russia on Tuesday to set aside tensions over the downing of a Russian warplane and focus on the common priority of defeating the Islamic State group. Obama, in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, vouched for the NATO ally's right to self-defense, and he pledged a solid U.S. commitment "to Turkey's security and its sovereignty." Yet he emphasized the need for Turkey and Russia to "de-escalate" their conflict and not get distracted from the campaign against IS and efforts to resolve Syria's long-running civil war. "We all have a common enemy. That is ISIL," Obama said, using one of several acronyms for the extremist group. "I want to make sure that we focus on that threat."
Be the first to comment