Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told President Obama on Tuesday that he is committed to peace in the region, despite ordering the downing of a Russian fighter jet last week that Ankara said veered into Turkish airspace.
“Of course, we are always willing to resort to the diplomatic language … because we don’t want to invest in tensions; we want to avoid the tensions,” Erdogan said while appearing with Obama in Paris after the two met privately at the U.S. embassy there. “We don’t want to get hurt and we don’t want [anyone] to get hurt because if a tension arises in the region, all of the parties involved get damaged at the end,” he said through an interpreter. “We want peace to prevail at all costs.”
Obama reiterated his comment made immediately after the Russian fighter plane went down Nov. 22 that the U.S. supports Turkey’s right to defend itself. On Monday, the Obama administration said it had independent evidence that the Russian plane did cross into Turkish airspace.
“I want to be very clear: Turkey is a NATO ally,” Obama said. “Along with our allies, the United States supports Turkey’s right to defend itself and its airspace and its territory. And we’re very much committed to Turkey’s security and its sovereignty.”
Both Obama and Erdogan reiterated that the top priority in the region is defeating the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
“And we are very much interested in accelerating the work that’s been taking place on our military-to-military relationship to ensure that not only Turkey is safe and secure, but also that Syria can finally begin winding down what has been a terribly costly war, and we can focus our attention on ensuring that [the Islamic State] is no longer a threat to all of us,” Obama said, using his preferred acronym for the Islamic State.
Erdogan said he is committed to the international process recently established in Vienna to invoke ceasefires and begin a peaceful transition of power away from Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“We are, so far, very happy to see the developments in that regard, and we hope and pray that the end result out of the Vienna process to be cultivated will provide … relief for the entire region and for Syria,” Erdogan said.
