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Erdoğan at the UN General Assembly in New York
Photo: EDUARDO MUNOZ / AP
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has lamented poor relations with the US government under President Joe Biden.
"I can't say that we had a good start with Mr. Biden," said Erdoğan on Thursday in New York according to the state news agency Anadolu.
With Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, however, he worked well together.
The current development of relations between the two NATO countries "does not bode well," Erdoğan continued.
"In my almost 19-year leadership career as Prime Minister and President, the point we have reached with America is unfortunately not a good one." The foreign ministers of both countries met at the UN General Assembly, but not the presidents.
Erdoğan: The US would have to pay a “price”
Erdoğan criticized the United States for its actions in Afghanistan.
US weapons are now "in the hands of the Taliban."
The US would have to pay a "price" for this.
The Turkish president also reiterated that his country was not ready to accept refugees from Afghanistan: Turkey would not open its doors, the country was not an "open-air corridor".
Turkey and the USA are at odds with each other on many issues.
Under Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, the United States had imposed sanctions against Turkey because of the purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system.
“For us, the S-400 issue is closed.
It is also not possible for us to back down, ”Erdoğan said now.
Biden called Erdoğan an autocrat and called for his election
At the end of August, after the Taliban took Kabul, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Turkey on Twitter as an important partner in the region.
But even before his election, Biden had been very critical of Erdoğan.
Biden said several times in an interview with the New York Times that he was "very concerned" about Erdoğan's policy.
He described the Turkish president as an "autocrat" and called for the support of the Turkish opposition "in order to defeat Erdoğan".
The Kurds in particular have to be supported, Biden said at the time.
And he used the formulation that Erdoğan now also used.
The Turkish president, so Biden at the time, had to "pay a price."
slü / dpa
