Biden Apologizes to Erdogan After Reports He Criticized Turkey

By Carter Dougherty and Roger Runningen

Photographer: Kayhan Ozer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

United States Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip... Read More

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden apologized to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following reports that Biden had criticized Turkey for allowing militants to cross its border into Syria.
Biden, in a phone call today with Erdogan, “apologized for any implication that Turkey or other allies and partners in the region had intentionally supplied or facilitated the growth” of militant groups involved in the Syrian civil war, the White House said in an e-mailed statement.
The two leaders also spoke about ways to “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State group, the White House said.
Islamic State militants now control an area that stretches across much of northern Iraq and Syria. The U.S. and its allies have been carrying out
airstrikes since last month to suppress the group.
While Erdogan, commander-in-chief of NATO’s second-largest army, says he’ll join the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State, Turkey’s priority in Syria has been the removal of President Bashar al-Assad from power.
Biden’s apology followed reports that he told students at Harvard University on Oct. 2 that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were so eager to take down Assad that they supported militants who came to the country.
Erdogan denied supporting militant groups in the region, saying “Biden is history to me” if the reports of his remarks were true, according to Anadolu Agency. “Turkey has never given even the smallest kind of support to any terror organization,” Erdogan said, according to the agency.