Vice President Joe Biden has apologized to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for saying the Turkish leader had conceded that his country mistakenly assisted foreign fighters, including Islamic State extremists, seeking to depose the Syrian regime.
The White House says Biden spoke to Erdogan on Saturday 'to clarify comments' Biden made on Thursday at Harvard University.
The White House says Biden apologized 'for any implication' that Turkey or other allies had intentionally supplied or helped in the growth of the Islamic State group or other extremists groups in Syria.
Biden on Thursday said Erdogan had admitted that Turkey made mistakes by helping violent militants in Syria. An angry Erdogan denied saying that and countered that Biden would become 'history to me' over the comments.
The speech was an especially bad event for the vice president who has a history of gaffes and unscripted, problem-causing remarks.
At Harvard he took a question from a student who identified himself as being a vice president of an organization by jokingly saying first that being a vice president is 'a b-tch.'
Entities 0 Name: Biden Count: 5 1 Name: Erdogan Count: 3 2 Name: Turkey Count: 2 3 Name: Islamic State Count: 2 4 Name: Syria Count: 2 5 Name: Turkish Count: 1 6 Name: Tayyip Erdogan Count: 1 7 Name: Joe Biden Count: 1 8 Name: Harvard Count: 1 9 Name: Harvard University Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1rVvHKY Title: Turkey's President Demands Biden Apologize Over Comments About ISIS Description: Turkish President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has demanded an apology from US Vice President Joe Biden after the latter made comments Erdogan said were untrue. Speaking at Harvard University on Thursday, Biden told students Erdogan - who he referred to as an "old friend" - admitted to him that his country had erred in allowing foreign terrorist fighters an easy route to pass in and out of Syria.
