Turkish officials have continued to criticize the video of US presidential Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s statements, which was circulated on social media over the past weekend, reports Bloomberg.
In The Weekly documentary series, dedicated to famous headlines in the New York Times, Biden spoke of his vision of US relations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling him an “autocrat.” Biden also said that should he become president, he would “encourage” the Turkish opposition to defeat Erdogan.
The video drew a negative reaction, with Turkish politicians and political scientists expressing their disagreement.
“It is interesting that a presidential candidate, who was also vice president, makes such mistakes,” Bloomberg quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s opinion, expressed after a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the Dominican Republic.
Faiq Oztrak, press secretary of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said that Turkey’s political opposition cares for the nation’s interests, not those of the United States. “Our democracy and aspiration for freedom do not need the patronage of imperialism,” Oztrak wrote on his Twitter page, adding, “Independence is our nature.”
