G20 seeks united front in fighting jihadists
Print Edition
WORLD leaders joined a heavily guarded summit in Turkey yesterday to forge a united front against jihadist violence after the Paris gun and bomb assaults but facing stark divisions over conflict-riven Syria.
China’s President Xi Jinping, United States President Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin of Russia and other leaders gathered at the Mediterranean resort of Antalya two days after the Paris attacks claimed by Islamic State jihadists that killed at least 129 people.
The killings darkened the mood of the summit of the Group of 20 top world economies, with security and the Syrian conflict now eclipsing an economic agenda that will also deal with the spreading refugee crisis, climate change and tax avoidance.
The leaders were working on a rare separate statement to denounce the Paris attacks and terrorism, urged on by host President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who said the summit agenda was now “very different” given the massacre in Paris.
“We need to lead an international fight within a coalition against collective acts of terrorism,” he said on the eve of the summit after meeting with the Chinese president, who described terrorism as “a common enemy of humanity.”
The gathering will take place without French leader Francois Hollande who has stayed home to lead his shaken country.
All musical events, including at the official dinner planned for last night, have been canceled as a mark of respect.
Meanwhile, Obama and Putin held a coffee-table summit yesterday, breaking the ice for the first time since Moscow launched air bombardments in Syria.
Sitting in leather armchairs on opposite sides of a small table, the pair leaned forward in animated talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Turkey’s state television showed.
As they sat together beside a potted palm tree, other delegates wandered by and security agents partially obstructed the view of the television camera.
According to Russian news agencies, the two leaders talked for about 20 minutes.
Obama, who was gesturing to reinforce his points, and Putin were flanked at the coffee table by White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice and another unidentified man, apparently a translator.
None of the content of the conversation was divulged to the journalists covering the summit.
Hours earlier, the former Cold War foes shook hands as they took places for a family photograph of the Group of 20 top world economies, a summit now dominated by the Paris bombing and shooting assault, which killed 129 people.
It was Obama and Putin’s first meeting since Russia launched its declared anti-Islamic State air bombardment in Syria at the end of September.
But world leaders are seeking to put aside differences to deliver a united message against extremist attacks.
“We will only be able to deal with the terrorist threat ... if all the international community unites its efforts,” Putin said before his meeting with Obama.
The US president, moments after the Putin talks, arrived late to the main summit session just as fellow leaders were observing a moment of silence to remember the victims of terror in Paris and also Ankara last month where 102 people died.
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