ANTALYA, Turkey (CNN) — President Barack Obama said Sunday “the skies have been darkened” in the aftermath of a terrorist killing spree in Paris on Friday.
Speaking at the start of the G20 here on the Turkish Riviera, Obama said the two-day summit has assumed new importance as leaders work to develop a response to the massacre.
“The killing of innocent people based on a twisted ideology is an attack not just on France, not just on Turkey, it is an attack on the civilized world,” Obama said during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“We stand in solidity with (the French people) in hunting down the perpetrators of this crime and bringing them to justice,” Obama said, adding later that he and Erdoğan discussed ways to fortify Tukey’s border with Syria and a strategy for addressing the refugee crisis
“We will redouble our efforts, working with other members of the coalition, to bring about a peaceful transition in Syria and to eliminate (ISIS) as a force that can create so much pain and suffering for people in Paris,” Obama said.
Later, asked by reporters whether he was considering additional action against ISIS after the Paris attack, Obama declined to answer.
Obama’s visit to Turkey for a summit of global leaders gained fresh urgency Friday as nations scrambled to respond to the massacre in Paris.
The attacks in France, which French authorities say were perpetrated by ISIS, provided another reminder to the leaders of the world’s largest economies gathering in Turkey of the dangerous spread of extremist ideology.
Allies and adversaries
The President is expected to meet allies and adversaries alike, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose efforts in Syria have forced the administration to retool its strategy for combatting ISIS. A formal meeting between the two men is not scheduled, though Obama’s aides say there’s “ample opportunity” for a pull-aside at the G20.
Putin’s recent entry into the war in Syria — Russian planes are striking forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — have driven a further wedge between Moscow and the West.
Originally, Obama appeared to be entering this yearly gathering able to tout recent victories against ISIS, including aiding Kurdish fighters in retaking Sinjar Mountain in Iraq and having apparently taking out “Jihadi John,” the high-profile ISIS executioner.
But the deadly Paris attacks, paired with the recent downing of a Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and bomb attacks in Beirut this week, illustrate the continued extremist threat.
Obama’s presence at the G20 brought him significantly closer to the problem. The resort where the meeting is taking place is located 500 miles from the Turkey-Syria border, and authorities arrested 20 suspected ISIS members in the town last week.
Leaders, including Putin, will meet for dinner Sunday to address the refugee flow that has overtaken Europe in recent months, as well as the broader problem of how to rid Iraq and Syria of ISIS. On Monday, Obama will huddle with leaders from the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy to further discuss the campaign against the terrorists.
Expectations for breakthrough solutions were low.
“I don’t think anybody expects a single outcome that all of a sudden readily resolves all these difficult issues,” said Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, ahead of the trip. “We’re looking to try to use these venues to make incremental progress toward the objective that we all seek.”
