TURKISH PRESS REVIEW on SEP. 26

Friday's dailies report on Turkish President Erdogan's meeting with U.S. Vice President Biden and his phone conversation with U.S. President Obama over the ISIL crisis in the Middle East.

TURKISH PRESS REVIEW on SEP. 26

The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Most dailies on Friday covered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's meeting with U.S. vice president, Joe Biden, at a New York hotel Thursday, during which the two leaders emphasized the importance of the U.S.-Turkish partnership in fighting terrorist organizations in the region, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.

Biden asked Erdogan about Turkey's contribution for combatting ISIL, HURRIYET reports, saying it was the first concrete U.S. request for Turkey to supply moderate opposition forces in Syria with training and equipment.

The paper also quotes Erdogan as saying, "ISIL is a bloodthirsty terrorist organization," on Wednesday at the U.N. Security Council.

"Turkey is ready to take the frontline against the flow of foreign fighters [in Syria]... Indeed, Turkey has done a lot to stop it; however, this is not something that Turkey can cope with alone," VATAN cites Erdogan as saying before the council meeting.

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution to battle "foreign fighters" in Syria and Iraq.

The binding resolution demands that all U.N. member states make legal arrangements to punish those who either join foreign fighters or who provide them with logistic and financial support.

Western intelligence agencies estimate that about 4,000 foreign fighters from European countries have joined ISIL to date.

MILLIYET says the Turkish president also spoke to Obama over the phone before his meeting with Biden.

They discussed the threat posed by terror groups and the Syrian crisis and they agreed to "remain in close contact" concerning the ongoing terrorist crisis in the Middle East, the daily said.

Both meetings were asked by the Americans, according to YENI SAFAK.

HABER TURK reports that, during his phone conversation with Erdogan, President Obama praised Turkey's taking in of Syrian refugees who have crossed the border to escape the conflict, which is now in its fourth year.

With more than 1.5 million refugees in Turkey, Erdogan called Wednesday on the U.N. Security Council for international support to aid victims of terrorism, while also lashing out at its inability to stop the violence in Syria.

In other news, Turkish dailies covered the clashes between ISIL militants and Iraqi and Kurdish forces.

"Battle right on the border," headlines HABER TURK stressing that Turkish armed forces were on full alert for any sign of trouble at the border between Syria and Turkey.

ISIL is fighting sometimes as close as 300 meters to the Turkish border, the paper says.

"ISIL aims to capture the Syrian city of Kobani which is controlled by Syrian Kurds," says HURRIYET.

Since last Friday, thousands of Kurds from Syria's northern town of Kobani have been fleeing to Suruc in southeastern Turkey to find shelter.

Pointing to the "human tragedy" in Suruc, HURRIYET says some locals are able to host the refugees but others had to remain in fields or in tents.

MILLIYET describes a scene approaching ever so slightly a sense of normalcy of children playing with friends in a park in the town of Suruc.

Güncelleme Tarihi: 26 Eylül 2014, 13:59
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