This was two weeks before his first meeting with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels on June 14….reports Asian Lite News
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the United States that it risked “losing a precious friend”, according to media reports.
Erdogan said in an interview with Turkish state broadcaster TRT on Tuesday that “those who corner the Republic of Turkey will lose a precious friend”.
This was two weeks before his first meeting with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels on June 14.
Also Read
The relations between the two NATO countries have further worsened after US, in its report, highlighted Turkey’s dire human rights record.
“If the United States is indeed our ally, should they side with the terrorists or with us? Unfortunately, they continue to support the terrorists,” reports quoted Erdogan as saying.
Erdogan had previously indicated he intended to mend ties with Biden, last week saying their meeting will be a “harbinger of a new era” in US-Turkey relations.
After taking office in January, Biden waited for three months to call the Turkish leader in April, and that too was also on the eve of recognising the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman empire during World War I.
Last month, Erdogan had condemned Biden for approving the sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel.
The US President was “writing history with bloody hands in this incident where Gaza was attacked disproportionately,” Erdogan said at a press conference elaborating on recent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians.
“You have forced us to say this. We can’t stay silent on this anymore,” he added.
“Palestinian lands are being washed with blood and cruelty. You are also supporting this,” Erdogan noted.
ALSO READ: A Third Israeli-Hamas War — What’s Next?
[soliloquy id="151345"]