Erdogan slams Biden over ‘killer’ Putin comment
According to ALJAZEERA, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that US President Joe Biden’s comments about Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin, in which he called him a “killer”, were “unacceptable” and “not fitting of a president”.
In a TV interview broadcast on Wednesday, Biden said “I do” when asked if he believed the Russian president was a killer, plunging diplomatic ties to a new low. Putin later responded “it takes one to know one”.
“Mr Biden’s comment about Putin does not suit a head of state,” the Turkish president told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul, lauding Putin for giving a “smart” and “classy response”.
Ankara and Washington are NATO allies, although Erdogan and Biden have yet to speak since the latter took office in January.
Putin on Thursday mocked the US leader, using a Russian phrase that translates roughly as “it takes one to know one”, and wishing Biden, 78, good health.
“I’m saying this without irony, not as a joke,” Putin, 68, said.
Biden is also remembered in Ankara for calling Erdogan an “autocrat” in an interview in late 2019.
Despite their differences over the Syria war, in which they have backed opposite sides, Erdogan has called Putin a “friend and a strategic partner”.
Putin, meanwhile, offered a phone call with Biden in the next few days to discuss the coronavirus pandemic, regional conflicts and other issues, and suggested the conversation be open to the public.
The Kremlin said on Friday that Putin’s offer to speak by phone with Biden was intended to prevent bilateral ties from completely falling apart.
Putin made it clear “it makes sense to have a talk to maintain Russia-US relations instead of trading barbs,” and he wanted to make it public to help defuse tensions over Biden’s “very bad remarks”, said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“Since Biden’s words were quite unprecedented, unprecedented formats can’t be excluded,” Peskov said. “President Putin proposed to discuss the situation openly because it would be interesting for the people of both countries.”
Putin noted Russia would still cooperate with the United States where and when it supports Moscow’s interests, adding “a lot of honest and decent people in the US want to have peace and friendship with Russia”.
