English subtitles for clip: File:The President Meets with the President of Turkey in Paris.webm
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1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,540 President Obama: Even though President Erdogan and I 2 00:00:04,537 --> 00:00:05,707 had a chance to see each other 3 00:00:05,705 --> 00:00:08,205 in Antalya recently at the G20. 4 00:00:08,208 --> 00:00:10,808 In light of recent events, we thought it would be 5 00:00:10,810 --> 00:00:16,820 useful for us to discuss what's been happening both 6 00:00:16,816 --> 00:00:21,556 in Syria and the recent events between Russia 7 00:00:21,554 --> 00:00:22,824 and Turkey. 8 00:00:22,822 --> 00:00:26,092 I want to be very clear: Turkey is a NATO Ally. 9 00:00:26,092 --> 00:00:29,832 Along with our allies, the United States supports 10 00:00:29,829 --> 00:00:32,499 Turkey's right to defend itself and its airspace and 11 00:00:32,499 --> 00:00:34,069 its territory. 12 00:00:34,067 --> 00:00:36,467 And we're very much committed to Turkey's 13 00:00:36,469 --> 00:00:39,809 security and its sovereignty. 14 00:00:39,806 --> 00:00:44,716 We discussed how Turkey and Russia can work together to 15 00:00:44,711 --> 00:00:48,451 deescalate tensions and find a diplomatic path 16 00:00:48,448 --> 00:00:51,518 to resolve this issue. 17 00:00:51,518 --> 00:00:56,388 And as I mentioned to President Erdogan, 18 00:00:56,389 --> 00:00:59,059 we all have a common enemy, and that is ISIL. 19 00:00:59,058 --> 00:01:04,128 And I want to make sure that we focus on that threat, 20 00:01:04,130 --> 00:01:05,900 and I want to make sure that we remain focused on the 21 00:01:05,899 --> 00:01:09,599 need to bring about some sort of political resolution 22 00:01:09,602 --> 00:01:12,442 in Syria. 23 00:01:12,439 --> 00:01:14,979 In partnership with Turkey and other coalition 24 00:01:14,974 --> 00:01:18,974 partners, we've been able to push ISIL's control of 25 00:01:18,978 --> 00:01:23,418 certain territories inside of Iraq and inside of Syria. 26 00:01:23,416 --> 00:01:24,616 We have more work to do. 27 00:01:24,617 --> 00:01:28,887 Turkey has been extraordinarily generous 28 00:01:28,888 --> 00:01:32,858 when it comes to its support of refugees. 29 00:01:32,859 --> 00:01:35,899 And I was glad to hear that they've had a productive 30 00:01:35,895 --> 00:01:40,865 meeting with the EU about how not only can border 31 00:01:40,867 --> 00:01:43,467 security be strengthened, but also additional 32 00:01:43,470 --> 00:01:47,640 resources for humanitarian support can be forthcoming. 33 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:54,710 And we are very much interested in accelerating 34 00:01:54,714 --> 00:01:58,154 the work that's been taking place on our 35 00:01:58,151 --> 00:02:02,191 military-to-military relationship to ensure that 36 00:02:02,188 --> 00:02:06,058 not only Turkey is safe and secure, 37 00:02:06,059 --> 00:02:10,159 but also that Syria can finally begin winding down 38 00:02:10,163 --> 00:02:12,963 what has been a terribly costly war, 39 00:02:12,966 --> 00:02:16,436 and we can focus our attention on ensuring that 40 00:02:16,436 --> 00:02:19,276 ISIL is no longer a threat to all of us. 41 00:02:19,272 --> 00:02:22,072 So, Tayyip, I appreciate very much the meeting. 42 00:02:22,075 --> 00:02:25,145 And I'm sure that our teams will be in close 43 00:02:25,144 --> 00:02:29,384 consultation over the next several weeks. 44 00:02:32,852 --> 00:02:36,802 (interpreting) 45 00:07:02,588 --> 00:07:03,188 President Erdogan: (as interpreted) My dear friend, 46 00:07:03,189 --> 00:07:06,059 Obama, first and foremost, I would like to thank you 47 00:07:06,058 --> 00:07:07,428 for this meeting. 48 00:07:07,426 --> 00:07:09,826 And we have concentrated our efforts in discussing 49 00:07:09,829 --> 00:07:12,429 fundamental topics; some of them to name 50 00:07:12,431 --> 00:07:13,831 are as the following. 51 00:07:13,833 --> 00:07:16,073 First and foremost, we've discussed several issues 52 00:07:16,068 --> 00:07:19,208 surrounding the struggle -- the joint struggle against 53 00:07:19,205 --> 00:07:21,405 the ISIL terrorism in Syria. 54 00:07:21,407 --> 00:07:24,277 As the coalition forces, we are determined to keep up 55 00:07:24,277 --> 00:07:27,417 the fight against ISIS and ISIS forces on the ground. 56 00:07:27,413 --> 00:07:29,453 And we have discussed the situation from different 57 00:07:29,448 --> 00:07:31,688 aspects within Syria in a detailed fashion. 58 00:07:31,684 --> 00:07:34,754 And as a second topic, we've concentrated our efforts on 59 00:07:34,754 --> 00:07:37,154 discussing the recent tensions between Russia 60 00:07:37,156 --> 00:07:38,326 and Turkey. 61 00:07:38,324 --> 00:07:40,724 Of course, we are always willing to resort to the 62 00:07:40,726 --> 00:07:43,126 diplomatic language, because the diplomatic language will 63 00:07:43,129 --> 00:07:45,369 be sufficient in order to resolve the problems in the 64 00:07:45,364 --> 00:07:49,464 region -- because we don't want to invest in tensions; 65 00:07:49,468 --> 00:07:51,108 we want to avoid the tensions. 66 00:07:51,103 --> 00:07:53,373 We don't want to get hurt and we don't want no one to 67 00:07:53,372 --> 00:07:55,212 get hurt, because if a tension arises in the 68 00:07:55,208 --> 00:07:58,748 region, all of the parties involved get damaged at the end. 69 00:07:58,744 --> 00:08:01,044 We want peace to prevail at all costs, 70 00:08:01,047 --> 00:08:03,087 and we want the peace, which will prevail, 71 00:08:03,082 --> 00:08:05,922 to contribute to the peace which will be established in 72 00:08:05,918 --> 00:08:07,958 the region at a larger extent. 73 00:08:07,954 --> 00:08:10,324 And of course, with regards to the resolution of the 74 00:08:10,323 --> 00:08:13,523 problems in Syria, we've discussed the transitional 75 00:08:13,526 --> 00:08:15,196 government -- the establishment of the 76 00:08:15,194 --> 00:08:17,664 transitional government, especially in the aftermath 77 00:08:17,663 --> 00:08:21,203 of the already successfully undertaken Vienna process. 78 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:23,740 We are, so far, very happy to see the developments in 79 00:08:23,736 --> 00:08:26,836 that regard, and we hope and pray that the end result out 80 00:08:26,839 --> 00:08:29,579 of the Vienna process to be cultivated will provide a -- 81 00:08:29,575 --> 00:08:33,275 sigh of relief for the entire region and for Syria. 82 00:08:33,279 --> 00:08:35,479 And as a fourth topic, we focused on the Turkomans, 83 00:08:35,481 --> 00:08:38,081 which are the Turkish descendants in Syria. 84 00:08:38,084 --> 00:08:40,284 We know that where the Turkomans are present, 85 00:08:40,286 --> 00:08:42,726 there's no Daesh presence or ISIS presence. 86 00:08:42,722 --> 00:08:44,492 As I've said before, they are the Turkish descendants; 87 00:08:44,490 --> 00:08:46,930 they are the relatives of the Republic of Turkey. 88 00:08:46,926 --> 00:08:50,026 And that area is continuously bombed. 89 00:08:50,029 --> 00:08:52,629 In the last few weeks, more than 500 civilians were 90 00:08:52,632 --> 00:08:55,502 killed, so we would like to see the resolution of that 91 00:08:55,501 --> 00:08:57,441 problem as soon as possible as well. 92 00:08:57,436 --> 00:08:59,276 And I would like to thank you once again for this time 93 00:08:59,272 --> 00:09:02,012 and for this opportunity.