PM Yıldırım’s message at White House: Allies don’t support terror groups
PRIME Minister Binali Yıldırım met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence yesterday to discuss various matters that have caused a diplomatic rift between the two allies as of late, including the U.S. stance on terrorist groups PKK and Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). The meeting, which was expected to last around an hour, took place at the White House, and the two leaders were additionally expected to discuss the recent visa row. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Energy Minister Berat Albayrak also attended the meeting. Turkey and the U.S. should focus on the future of bilateral ties and let bygones be bygones, Yıldırım said the day before to journalists, adding that he will renew the request for Fetullah Gülen’s extradition during the meeting with Pence. Noting that the leader of FETÖ, which is behind last year’s failed July 15 coup attempt, must be extradited as soon as possible, the prime minister said both countries should work to achieve normalized bilateral relations. “We want to leave behind our problems with the U.S.,” Yıldırım said. Regarding the extradition process for Gülen, he said Turkey has provided every document and piece of evidence necessary for his extradition. Yıldırım also answered a question about opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli’s remarks on the election threshold. “We will discuss and see what can be done. We do not promise to lower the threshold, but we will discuss the pros and cons of lowering it, and reach a decision,” he said.
At a time when relations between Turkey and the U.S. are fraught with mutual distrust, Prime Minister Yıldırım met with Vice President Pence to underline Turkey’s exasperation with continued U.S. aid to terrorist groups that pose clear and present danger to Turkey
Minister Yıldırım met Turkish-U.S. opinion leaders at the Turkish Ambassador’s residence in the U.S. capital on Wednesday, the second day of his visit.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak, ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman Mehmet Muş, parliamentarians Volkan Bozkır and Mustafa Şentop as well as Turkey’s Ambassador to the U.S. Serdar Kılıç and Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Kerim Uras were also present at the meeting, which lasted about two hours.
Some prominent U.S. diplomats and representatives of think tanks attended the meeting, which was closed to the press.
Yıldırım gave a speech to a crowd at the Diyanet Center of America (DCA), also known as the Turkish-American Community Center and Mosque Complex, in Lanham, Maryland.
He said “there is no difference between Daesh and FETÖ,” adding that both terror groups flout the sacred values of Islam and have threatened the peace in Muslim countries.
The Turkish premier decried how FETÖ leader Fetullah Gülen, who masterminded last year’s deadly coup attempt in Turkey and is still living in the U.S., has corrupted and fooled many Muslims by presenting himself as a “moderate Muslim.”
“The leader of FETÖ is no cleric, he is a bloody terrorist,” Yıldırım said, adding, “FETÖ’s main goal was to infiltrate the Turkish state and put it under his control.”
“And they killed Muslims to reach their goal,” he continued, referring to the July 15, 2016 deadly coup attempt that killed 250 people and left some 2,200 others injured.
He warned Muslims living in the U.S. to “stay away from schools and cultural centers affiliated with the FETÖ network.”
“Don’t take FETÖ supporters among you and don’t allow them to mislead you,” he said.
Yıldırım said since the coup bid, the Turkish government has continued “to decipher the secret structures of this bloody terrorist organization within the bounds of law.” He stressed that they should pay the price for every single act of evil they did to Turkey.
FETÖ has lost its influence in Turkey but still continues to carry out a dark campaign against Turkey on an international scale, said Yıldırım. “Citizens in our country know about the misinformation games played by FETÖ terrorists. I also know that our citizens living abroad aren’t fooled by these games either,” he added.
U.S. PLEDGES FULL SUPPORT FOR TURKEY’S FIGHT AGAINST PKK
The U.S. will always stand with Turkey in its fight against all terrorist groups, including the PKK, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli at a NATO meeting Wednesday.
According to reports, Mattis and Canikli met on the sidelines of the NATO Defense Ministers Meetings in Brussels, a statement by chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White said.
According to the statement, Mattis thanked Canikli for Turkey’s “critical contributions to global security and the fight to defeat ISIS,” in reference to the Daesh terrorist group.
“Secretary Mattis acknowledged the threats posed to Turkey, and reiterated that the U.S. will continue to stand with Turkey in its fight against the PKK and all terrorist threats,” the statement added.
Both ministers reiterated determination to maintain bilateral defense activities and seek ways to boost defense cooperation.
Turkey has criticized the U.S. for supporting the Democratic Union Party’s (PYD) armed wing the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, which is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist organization.