Erdoğan on Biden's resurfaced remarks: We had a friendship, how can he say that?

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has responded to US presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden's recently resurfaced remarks, saying that "Politicians in the US don't even feel the need to hide their fascist plans about Turkey."

"They also don't hesitate to say in front of cameras that they want to achieve what they couldn't do with a coup by supporting the opposition," he told a press conference in Ankara after a cabinet meeting.

Joe Biden had called Erdoğan an "autocrat" and said he would support the opposition to defeat him in an interview with The New York Times in January. 

His remarks have recently gone viral in Turkey, drawing strong reactions from senior government officials, including the Presidential Spokesperson and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

"We had a friendship. We had conversations, we had drunk tea together. How can you use such an expression for us? But they did," Erdoğan remarked, referring to the time when Biden was the US Vice President.

"Those who need to give a response to this should be the opposition before us. If you noticed, I hadn't responded to it," the President further said.

"What I think we should be doing is taking a very different approach to him now, making it clear that we support opposition leadership," Biden had told The New York Times.

"I'm still of the view that if we were to engage more directly like I was doing with them, that we can support those elements of the Turkish leadership that still exist and get more from them and embolden them to be able to take on and defeat Erdoğan. Not by a coup, not by a coup, but by the electoral process," he had said.

"The kind of mentality which sides with terrorist groups instead of supporting democratic countries has taken US politics hostage," Erdoğan further said in reference to Biden's support for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria. "A mentality which looks the other way when our country is being attacked by terrorists and hopes to see the results when we face a coup is a stain on the name of democracy."

Gas exploration activities

Last week's discovery of natural gas reserves in the Black Sea is a prelude to upcoming good news from the Mediterranean, Erdoğan said, adding that there was substantial evidence that the natural gas discovery foreshadowed a much bigger gas reserve.

Erdoğan also called yesterday's (August 24) Navtex alert by Greece a "spoiled act" that endangers the coastal and navigational safety of all ships in the region.

Athens' Navtex said its air and naval forces would hold joint exercises in an area overlapping with the one Turkey declared on Sunday (August 23).

From now on, "Greece will be responsible for all conflicts in the region, and will be at a disadvantage," added Erdoğan.

Turkey's Oruç Reis drillship and the vessels accompanying it would not retreat from their activities in the region, he noted.

Turkey on Sunday issued a Navtex (navigational alert) announcing a four-day extension to the Oruç Reis' energy exploration.

Navtex is a maritime communications system that allows ships to inform other vessels about their presence in an area, as well as other information.

(HA/VK)