The extended interview of Erdoğan with American television channel CBS in New York, where he was attending the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, has been aired. President Erdoğan answered the questions of Margaret Brennan and commented on the developments in Afghanistan and relations between Turkey and the US.
Erdoğan responded to the question, “Do you think the US departure from Afghanistan makes the region less safe?” as follows:
“With the American footprints dating back to two decades, the region was not any safer. On the contrary, every day, the region lost more blood, and we used to have 1000 troops in Afghanistan, and we executed our duties in order to protect the airport in Afghanistan. And finally, when we were asked to possibly run the airport, we got together in Brussels with President Biden, where we discussed these issues, and we told him that we could possibly assume such a responsibility. But on the condition of three requests: one of them is logistical support. And, of course, what would logistical support stand for? It includes financial and equipment support, the ammunitions, the vehicles and the weapons there would have been transferred to Turkey. But such things have unfolded that the exact opposite happened. The artillery, the ammunition, the weapons, and the vehicles at the Karzai airport were all transferred over to the Taliban, and the Taliban is currently using those American weapons and vehicles, and we have to see all these facts for what they are. But we are actually accustomed to certain things because, similarly, the terrorist organizations in and around Turkey are receiving logistical support from the United States to a very severe extent. It was the case with the previous government, with the previous administration, and it's exactly the same right now. The terrorist organizations receiving this kind of support should be stopped once and for all: PKK, PYD, YPG, these terrorist organizations should not receive this kind of artillery and weapons support.”
“Terrorist organizations should not receive support from the US”
Upon the question, “They were US allies in the fight against DAESH, have you seen any evidence that weapons provided to them went back into Turkey? Is there any threat to you from any of these groups because of U.S. support?” Erdoğan said, “I've raised this issue personally with President Trump when he was in the office, and currently, trucks full of artillery, ammunition, and weapons are coming to the region, and we have provided this information to the administration through our intelligence agency, and we will continue to do so in the future.”
When asked, “Did you present it to President Biden?” Erdoğan noted, “All of this was submitted to our interlocutors, and the current Turkish intelligence chief is talking to his counterpart on a continuous basis, and we will never shy away from sharing this information with our interlocutors because there are certain facts that we have to admit to the United States is a NATO member. Similarly, Turkey is a NATO member, and while we are in a position to be obliged to forge solidarity under the roof of NATO, the terrorist organizations should not receive such logistical support. We would be vocal about this.”
“We've been supportive of Afghanistan in an unprecedented fashion, unlike any other”
Upon being asked “Turkey is helping the Taliban to run the airport right now, providing technical support. It's one of their few lifelines to the rest of the world. What do you think of this new Taliban government?” Erdoğan said:
“Currently, there's not an issue upon which we have reached an agreement, a consensus with Taliban. Taliban is currently moving jointly with Qatar, and we have withdrawn our troops, and our civilians were evacuated. We're not currently at the airport, and we don't have cooperation outstanding with the Taliban right now. But I need to be very frank and very clear in my following remarks. We have historic relations with the Afghan people, and we've always been very supportive of Afghanistan in an unprecedented fashion, unlike any other. And in terms of infrastructure, in terms of the superstructure, we were involved in major investments, which we will continue for the future. But because of the mistakes made in the field, we had to withdraw our troops and evacuate our civilians. And right now, we are not present in Afghanistan.”
“Running the Kabul Airport will entirely depend on agreements”
Upon the question “You won't help to run the airports?” Erdoğan said: “As I said, it will entirely depend on possible agreements and caution, because here if we can reach a reciprocal understanding if we can expect for some certain concrete steps and positive steps to be taken forward, we can do something right now. The government in Afghanistan is not inclusive, is not embracing all different factions. So long as that will be the question, we won't be present in Afghanistan, but if the government shall be more inclusive, we can be there, present, as Turkey.”
“Women should be present in every aspect of life in Afghanistan”
Upon the question “Taliban is only letting boys go back to school, not girls. They've told women not to show up for work in government positions. It doesn't look like the Taliban has evolved. Can you do business with a government like this?”, Erdoğan responded: “Turkey’s approach to women's issues is quite well known. Women are present in every aspect of life, in education, health, the judiciary. Women are present in every aspect of life, so long as this is the situation in our country, why would we have a different stance in Afghanistan? Our views would apply to Afghanistan as well as we would expect all women to be involved in every aspect of life in Afghanistan in a very active way. And whenever women become more active in every aspect of life, we can support them. If they would need us in health care and security and in other walks of life and if they need, we could support them in terms of education in our country.”
When asked “It sounds like you don't want to do business with the Taliban at this point?”, Erdoğan said: “About the issues that I've just listed, if they shall be agreed on, if they will be accepted and recognized, we can do business, but if not, we won't do business with them.”