U.S. President Barack Obama vowed on Sunday (November 15) to step up efforts to eliminate Islamic State in Syria and prevent it from carrying out attacks like those in Paris, while European leaders urged Russia to focus its military efforts on the radical Islamists.
Speaking at a G20 leaders summit in Turkey, Obama described the killings in Paris claimed by Islamic State as an attack on the civilised world and said the United States would work with France to hunt down those responsible.
Obama also condemned a double suicide bombing linked to Islamic State in the Turkish capital Ankara last month.
“As we I’m sure each said to (French) President Hollande and the French people, we stand in solidarity with them in hunting down the perpetrators of this crime and bringing them to justice,” Obama told a joint news conference with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
The two leaders discussed the conflict in Syria, efforts to tighten Turkey’s borders, and the refugee crisis affecting Turkey and Europe.
Obama said Turkey had been a “strong partner” with the U.S.-led coalition in going after Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
“The discussion we had today I think was very helpful in helping continue to coordinate the work that we are doing together, to help to fortify the borders between Syria and Turkey that allow Daesh (Islamic State) to operate. We discussed the progress that has been made in diplomatic talks in Vienna, led by our foreign ministers and an insistence that we will redouble our efforts with other members of the coalition to bring about a peaceful transition in Syria and to eliminate Daesh as a force that can create so much pain and suffering,” he said.
Obama said the U.S. stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Turkey in dealing with the migrant crisis.
“We also had an opportunity to discuss the burden of refugees that Turkey has been bearing and the United States is the largest of humanitarian assistance to displaced persons and refugees, stands shoulder to shoulder with Turkey, Europe and others in trying to help those who need help right now, even as we hope to reduce the flow of migrants because of the situation inside of Syria,” said Obama.
Erdogan said Turkey, which holds the G20 presidency this year, would continue to show solidarity with the United States and said that he expected the summit to produce a strong statement on the fight against terrorism.
“We are confronted with collective terrorism activity around the world, as you know terrorism does not recognise any religion, any race, any nation or any country. And what we have seen taking place in France, Paris, as well as in Ankara, Gaziantep, Suruc and in Diyarbakir, all show to us that we are confronted with a collective effort that is being engaged in terrorism,” Erdogan said.
“We are determined to continue to stand in solidarity to contribute to world peace as strategic partners,” he added.
The two-day summit brings Obama and fellow world leaders just 500 km (310 miles) from Syria, where a 4-1/2-year conflict has transformed Islamic State into a global security threat and spawned Europe’s largest migration flows since World War Two.
Obama and his Western allies now face the question of how the West should respond after Islamic State again demonstrated it posed a threat far beyond its strongholds in Syria and Iraq.
Washington already expects France to retaliate by taking on a larger role in the U.S.-led coalition’s bombing campaign against Islamic State.
The coordinated attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers in Paris on Friday (November 13) puts Obama and other leaders of the world’s major economies under increased pressure to find common cause.
It remains to be seen, however, whether Washington itself has an appetite for much deeper involvement after already stepping up air strikes and committing small numbers of special operations troops to northern Syria to advise opposition forces in the fight against Islamic State.
The Paris carnage, in which 129 people were killed in attacks on a concert hall, restaurants, bars and a sports stadium, also poses a major challenge for Europe, with populist leaders rushing to demand an end to an influx of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa.
In a diplomatic coup for Europe and for Turkey, the G20 leaders will agree that migration is a global problem that must be addressed in a coordinated way, according to a draft communique seen by Reuters, although it has yet to be accepted by all and is due to be published only on Monday (November 16).
Europe and Turkey, the most heavily hit by the crisis, had been pushing for the G20 to recognise the issue as a global problem and help to deal with it financially, despite opposition from China, India and Russia. A million migrants from the Middle East and Africa are expected to come to Europe this year alone.
According to a separate statement due to be released later on Sunday, a draft of which was also seen by Reuters, they also agreed to step up border controls and aviation security in the wake of the Paris attacks, which they condemned as “heinous”.
The summit follows not only the Paris attacks but also comes two weeks after a suspected bomb attack on a Russian airliner killed 224 people in the Sinai Peninsula.
It also comes just over a month after two suspected Islamic State suicide bombers blew themselves up in Ankara, killing more than 100 people in Turkey’s worst such attack.
