Aiming to head off a rift between major Mideast players, President Barack Obama urged Turkey and Russia on Tuesday to set aside tensions over the downing of a Russian warplane and focus on the common priority of defeating the Islamic State group.
Obama, in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, vouched for the NATO ally's right to self-defense, and he pledged a solid U.S. commitment "to Turkey's security and its sovereignty."
Yet he emphasized the need for Turkey and Russia to "de-escalate" their conflict and not get distracted from the campaign against IS and efforts to resolve Syria's long-running civil war.
"We all have a common enemy.
That is ISIL," Obama said, using one of several acronyms for the extremist group.
"I want to make sure that we focus on that threat."