Turkish President Accuses US of Siding with Terrorists

"We call on the United States to reconsider its calculations for mutual cooperation," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference on Monday after the cabinet meeting in Ankara. "We hope that, with the upcoming meeting between the presidents of the two countries, a new page will be opened in the relations between the United States and Turkey."

Erdogan said the US position on the Abdullah Gülen case and the S400 missile defense system and Joe Biden's recent remarks (on the Armenian genocide) have strained relations between the two countries.

"We are saddened by the recent remarks of US President Joe Biden, in which he used incorrect and baseless terms (about the Armenian genocide). This stance was taken as a result of pressure from some Armenian extremist groups and anti-Turkish circles," he added.

Erdogan said, "Armenia has occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan for more than 30 years and the West has not reacted to it. Westerners expelled Jews from Europe and Americans expelled Indians from their homeland and now accuse Turkey of the Armenian genocide. There is no evidence to support Armenian claims of genocide. This case is mostly used for political motives."

Elsewhere in his remarks, Erdogan stressed that Biden's recent statements on the Armenian genocide claim destroy efforts to achieve peace between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia.