ANTALYA, Turkey —
President Obama opened two days of talks with world leaders here Sunday
by vowing to help France in “hunting down the perpetrators” of the terrorist attacks
in Paris, amid questions about how the United States and its allies
will respond to the mass killings claimed by the Islamic State.
Shortly
after arriving, Obama met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
who is hosting the Group of 20 Summit here, and they presented a united
front in a brief appearance before reporters after a discussion that
lasted more than an hour
“The skies have been darkened by the
horrific attacks that took place in Paris,” Obama said. Referring to a
twin-bombing attack in Ankara, Turkey, last month that killed more than
100 people, he added that “the killing of innocent people based on a
twisted ideology is not just an attack on France, not just an attack on
Ankara, but an attack on the civilized world. . . . We stand in
solidarity with them in hunting down the perpetrators of this crime and
bringing them to justice.”
The highly coordinated assaults on
several locations in Paris on Friday evening have shaken the gathering
of global leaders here. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the
attacks, which intelligence officials said were carried out by three
teams of terrorists affiliated with the extremist group. The world
leaders were already planning to discuss strategies to combat the
Islamist State, whose brutal campaign in Syria and Iraq has further
destabilized the turbulent region.
But the attacks in the French
capital that killed 129 and injured more than 350 could potentially
change the calculus for French leaders and increase pressure on the
Obama administration to take stronger actions to ensure that the Islamic State cannot attack Western targets beyond the battlefield in the Middle East.
In
his remarks, Obama referred several times to the Islamic State, also
known as ISIS or ISIL, as “Daesh,” a derogatory Arabic term for the
group. Secretary of State John F. Kerry also has begun using the term.
The group, a particularly ruthless offshoot of al-Qaeda, has horrified
the international community with its terror tactics, which have included
beheadings, suicide bombings, massacres of prisoners and the use of
captured women as sex slaves.
“We will redouble our efforts to
work with other members of the coalition to bring about a peaceful
[political] transition in Syria and eliminate Daesh as a force that has
created so much pain and suffering for the people of Paris, Ankara and
other parts of the globe,” Obama said.
Erdogan said leaders at the G-20 gathering will take a strong “firm stance” against terrorism and issue a strong statement.
“We are confronted with a collective terrorism activity around the world,” he said.
Obama
authorized expanded U.S. airstrikes into Syria last year to degrade the
Islamic State, but he has been cautious about sending U.S. troops onto
the battlefield. Efforts to train and equip moderate Syrian rebel forces
to fight the Islamic State have largely failed, and Obama announced the
deployment of 50 U.S. Special Operations forces to Syria in an advisory
role.
Aides said the president had added a bilateral meeting
with Saudi King Salman to his schedule Sunday afternoon, part of Obama’s
effort to broker a negotiated settlement that would remove Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad from power and end the country’s civil war.
French
President François Hollande, who had been scheduled to attend the
summit, canceled his trip to remain in Paris and attend to the
investigation and recovery from the carnage. He has called the attacks
“an act of war” and vowed to lead a “merciless” response to the
perpetrators.
White House officials said Obama met with his
National Security Council before leaving Washington on Saturday for the
nine-hour flight to this resort town in southern Turkey. He was briefed
on the latest intelligence about the attacks and on security precautions
at U.S. embassies in Paris and other European cities, aides said.
Ben
Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to Obama, was scheduled to
appear on Sunday morning talk shows to discuss the administration’s
strategy in Syria.
Washington Post
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