Biden: U.S. and Turkey prepared for military solution in Syria
Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday said the U.S. and regional ally Turkey are prepared to seek a military solution in Syria to try to solve the nation’s five-year-long civil war.
Speaking after a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul, Biden stressed that a political solution to the problem would still be preferable.
{mosads}“But we are prepared if that’s not possible to having a military solution to this operation and taking out Daesh,” he said, according to AFP, using another name for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
A U.S. official emphasized the vice president’s comments do not signal a change in U.S. policy toward Syria, adding that Biden was referring to continued efforts against terrorists alongside a political solution to the civil war.
Remarking on the chances of achieving a political solution in Syria, Biden said: “We are neither optimistic nor pessimistic. We are determined.”
Biden said he discussed with Davutoglu how both nations could further support Sunni Arab forces who are trying to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
He also denounced the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a communist group that is banned in Turkey, as a “terror group, plain and simple.”
He said ISIS “is not the only existential threat to the people of Turkey. The PKK is equally a threat, and we are aware of that.
“It is a terror group, plain and simple, and what they continue to do is absolutely outrageous,” he added.
Biden later held talks for more than two-and-a-half hours with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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