Remark by president Obama At G20 summit

Remarks by President
Obama and President
Erdogan of Turkey After Bilateral Meeting at G20 Summit

PRESIDENT OBAMA: This is the first opportunity
that I’ve had to meet face to face with President
Erdogan since the terrible attempted coup that
took place in July. By taking to the streets to
resist the coup attempt, the Turkish people once
again affirmed their commitment to democracy,
and the strength and resilience of the democratic
institutions inside of Turkey.
I indicated at the time the unequivocal
condemnation of these actions, and spoke
personally to President Erdogan to offer any
support that we might be able to provide in both
ending the attempted coup, but also in
investigating and bringing the perpetrators of
these illegal actions to justice. And I’ve assured
him that our Justice Department and my national
security team will continue to cooperate with
Turkish authorities to determine how we can
make sure that those who carried out these
activities are brought to justice, and reaffirm our
strong support for the Turkish people and Turkish
institutions.
I also had the opportunity to express my deepest
condolences for those killed and wounded by
recent terrorist attacks in Turkey, which sadly
have become too common an occurrence, just as
they have all around the world. And in the face
of these savage attacks, not only do we stand
with Turkey and the people of Turkey and express
our sympathy for them, but, more importantly, we
want to take actions to ensure that together, we
are defeating the scourge of terrorism.
Turkey is a strong NATO ally, a critical member of
the coalition against ISIL. Our military, our law
enforcement and intelligence cooperation has
helped push ISIL back, especially along the
Syrian-Turkish border, but we now need to finish
the job. And we discussed ways in which we can
further cooperate in that regard.
President Erdogan and I also agreed to continue
pursuing a peaceful political transition in Syria,
which is the only lasting way to end the terrible
civil war there. And together, we’ll keep working
to ease the humanitarian suffering, make sure
that Syrian civilians can once again live in
security, and that we can stabilize the region as a
whole.
Finally, Tayyip, I want to thank you personally, as
well as your government and the people of Turkey
for your exceptional humanitarian support of
refugees. Turkey hosts more refugees than any
country in the world, and it has been a key
partner in providing aid and assistance to
vulnerable citizens that have poured out of Syria
as well as Iraq. We look forward to doing even
more when we host a U.N. refugee summit in --
later, at the margins of the U.N. General
Assembly. And as I indicated to President
Erdogan, this is not an issue in which Turkey
should be carrying the burden alone. It needs
support from all of us, and we intend to provide
it.
So, Tayyip, once again, it’s good to see you.
We're glad you're here, safe, and that we are able
to continue to work together to build on the
strong alliance and partnership that we've
established during the course of my presidency.
PRESIDENT ERDOGAN: (As interpreted.)
President Obama, thank you. Barack, thank you.
First, it's a pleasure for me to get together with
you within the framework of the G20 Summit here
in Hangzhou.
In the aftermath of July the 15th failed coup,
we've had a telephone conversation and this is
the first time we got together in order to see each
other face to face. And I would like to thank you
for your support against this coup attempt.
Of course, Turkey and the United States have
been a strategic partner and a very close ally.
And with you, under your leadership, the alliance
between our countries became a model
partnership. And the relations between our
countries are very special and they are getting
stronger as time goes by, especially the terrorist
attacks and the failed coup followed one another,
and it's a very meaningful time that we're going
through.
 And against all of the terrorist attacks around
the world, as NATO members, we have to
embrace a common attitude. It is impossible for
us to remain silent, vis-à-vis these attacks, and
we have to embrace the same stance against all
terrorist organizations around the world. All
forms of terrorism is bad. All forms of terrorism
is evil. There is no good terrorist or a bad
terrorist; every terrorist is condemned. Every
terrorist organization is doomed. And our stance
against terrorism is quite obvious.
And against these, especially the developments in
Syria and Iraq are very concerning. Our fight
against Daesh terrorist organization and other
terrorist organizations, PYD, YPG, and our fight
against these terrorist organizations will continue
as committed as they have ever been. I hope
and pray that -- which is -- our hope is never to
see a belt of terrorism, a corridor of terrorism
emerging in or around our region. And in order
for that to be eliminated, Turkey will forge a very
close cooperation and a solidarity with the
coalition forces, and we will prevail out of this
cooperation and we will be very victorious.
And at the same time, with regards to the
Fethullahist terrorist organization, our operations
are underway within the framework of the rule of
law. Against this terrorist, before the coup
attempt, we had put together some
documentation, amassed some evidence, which
we have submitted to the United States. And the
post-coup-attempt-related documentation and
evidence therein will be amassed and they will be
submitted to our friends in the United States.
The efforts are still underway.
We had welcomed a delegation from the American
ministry of justice and a similar delegation from
the Turkish ministry of justice will go to the
United States. Our minister of justice and
minister of interior will travel together to the
United States whereby they will concentrate their
efforts on the elaboration of this evidence. And
with this opportunity, I would like to underline
once again that our solidarity and cooperation is
most welcome, and this summit may be very
auspicious for us all.
Thank you.