By Chelsea J. Carter, Ben Brumfield and Sara Mazloumsaki
Source: CNN
Last week, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden made comments that
Middle Eastern allies (referring to Turkey) are partly to blame for the growing
power of ISIS. He stated that the terrorist group had been getting stronger due
to actions allies took to help the opposition groups that were fighting in
Syria against President Bashar al-Assad. He said that they wasted millions of dollars
and thousands of weapons to anyone who would fight against al-Assad. This would
not be such a big issue if it was not for the fact that the people being
supplied with these lethal weapons were extremist Muslims. “President Erdogan
told me, he’s an old friend, said ‘You were right. We let too many people
(including foreign fighters) through’. Now they are trying to seal their border”(1),
Biden said, according to transcripts. After hearing about all of this, Erdogan
repeatedly denied that he ever said such a thing. According to reporters in
Istanbul, Erdogan said Biden will become history to him unless an apology was
involved. Turkey was not the only one who was offended by these comments; the
United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry was also stunned that Biden would make
such a remark. “They were far from the truth, especially with the relation to
the UAE’s role in confronting extremism and terrorism and its clear and
advanced position in recognizing the dangers, including the danger of financing
terrorist and terrorist groups”(1), said Dr. Anwar Mohammed Gargash, the
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. After hearing the results of his
opinionated comments, Biden had no choice but to apologize in order to keep the
alliances with Turkey. In his apology, Biden made it clear that the commitments
and sacrifices made by our allies are greatly appreciated. Biden and Erdogan
had a telephone conversation, in which they both reaffirmed the two countries’
commitment to fight the terror group. The Syrian president accused Turkey of
looking the other way and providing support to some rebels that were involved
in the civil war. In turn, Turkey has accused Syria of instigating the unrest
that has led to ISIS taking hold in the region.
Due to the issues between Armenians and Turks, I tried very
hard in order to write this summary in a non-biased way. Though, in my opinion,
Biden should be able to make whatever comments he wants and not be penalized
for it. After all, it is only an
opinionated comment; he did not state it as a fact. Also, I do not agree with the fact that
Erdogan knows how much the U.S. relies on Turkey, yet he takes advantage of the
fact and holds it against us in times like this, where due to a few blunt
comments, Biden was treated like a child while being forced to apologize and
threatened to cut connections with.
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