Israel Matzav

ICYMI: Erdogan sends Deputy Mayor(!) to greet Biden at airport, Biden calls coup plotters 'terrorists'

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

You probably didn't hear much about Joe Biden's trip to Turkey last week. It's funny how Biden was 'humiliated' six and a half years ago when an Israeli bureaucrat announced a building permit when he was here in Israel, but apparently didn't notice who greeted him at the airport in Ankara last week. But don't worry - that didn't stop Biden from sucking up to Sultan Erdogan.

Erdogan sent a lowly deputy mayor to meet him at the airport and later said the US must arrest Gulen to stop him from giving press interviews.

Biden called the coup plotters “terrorists” and urged Kurdish forces in Syria to move away from Turkey’s borders, but he said the US must follow due process on Gulen.

“The constitution and our laws require for someone to be extradited that a court of the United States has to conclude there’s probable cause to extradite," he said.

"Thus far ... there has been no evidence presented about the coup."

The rift between Western powers and their Nato ally in the Middle East has prompted speculation that Turkey might forge a new alliance with Russia.

Erodgan met Russian leader Vladimir Putin earlier this month, while Russian propaganda has switched to highlighting irritants in EU-Turkey and US-Turkey relations.

By the way, those apartments are now being built six and a half years later. They're scheduled to be ready in 2020 (there's no infrastructure there - that comes first). Aren't double standards grand?

Labels: double standards, Joe Biden, Ramat Shlomo, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:58 PM