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President Biden on Monday delivered an embarrassing fist to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Belgium at Monday’s annual NATO summit — as the Islamist strongman prepares to criticize the US leader over his recent admission of the Armenian genocide.
Biden, who had been wearing a mask despite being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 for several months, approached the unmasked Erdogan, who was seated at a desk, displaying his fist at an angle that surprised the Turkish leader.
Erdogan got up to greet Biden, and continued the casual call as they spoke.
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Erdogan and Biden later sat down for a more formal meeting. But in a surprising twist, the American reporters who were supposed to be in the room were left waiting in the hallway.
Confirmation of the Biden and Erdogan sit-in came through Erdogan’s press office, which posted on Twitter pictures of Biden and Erdogan smashing their wrists and smiling at each other. In one photo, Erdogan is pointing his thumb up.
US-Turkish relations have soured in recent years, including over Erdogan’s militarism in Syria and Libya and his crackdown on dissent following an alleged coup attempt in 2016.
In April, Biden admitted it was a World War I genocide with the massacre of Armenians by Turks and Kurds, much to the chagrin of the Turkish leader. Last year, Biden called on Erdogan to drop his decision to convert the Hagia Sophia, a former Christian church, from a museum into a mosque.
Ahead of the NATO summit, Erdogan made clear he would confront Biden over his stance on the Armenian genocide, saying the designation “disturbed and worried” Turkey.
“An ally country that takes such a position on an issue that has nothing to do with NATO, the issue of Armenians, has bothered and annoyed us. It cannot continue without reminding (Biden) of this,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003, in 2017 watched his guards attack US citizens near the White House after a meeting with then US President Donald Trump. Fifteen of his bodyguards faced US charges, although charges against 11 of them were dropped in 2018. Congress halted arms sales to Turkey after the attack.
Despite being a NATO ally, Trump in 2018 ordered sanctions against Turkey’s interior and justice ministers over the detention of US pastor Andrew Bronson, who was eventually released.
In 2019, Turkey attacked US-allied Kurds in northern Syria after Trump announced plans to withdraw US forces there. Trump warned Erdogan not to be a “tough guy” or “an idiot,” but Erdogan shrugged him off and launched the attack.
US President Joe Biden, right, is greeted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, during a plenary session at the NATO Summit in Brussels, Monday, June 14, 2021 (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys, Pool)
In 2020, the United States imposed sanctions on Turkey for its purchase of $2.5 billion worth of S-400 surface-to-air missiles from Russia.
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The United States has repeatedly rejected Erdogan’s request to deport Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania. Erdogan claims that Gülen was behind the 2016 coup attempt.
To read more from the New York Post, click here.
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