Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center left, greets U.S. President Joe Biden, center right, during a plenary session during a NATO summit at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Monday, June 14, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski, Pool via AP)
Joe Biden’s first meeting with his Turkish counterpart was overshadowed by its lack of transparency. Members of the American press are still looking for answers after getting shut out of a bilateral meeting between Biden and Tayyip Erdogan in Brussels on Monday.
Some reporters took to social media to express their frustration while noting they were excluded from the event for more than an hour. On the other hand, Turkish media was allowed in while American media was not given an explanation for getting shunned.
After press held outside the Biden-Erdogan meeting for over 90 minutes, we went in.
Biden said it was a "very good meeting" and declined to speak beyond that.
We thought he may have, and @JonLemire said we couldn't hear. "I didn't say anything," Biden said.
Then we left. pic.twitter.com/XggEFQOcwN
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) June 14, 2021
When U.S. media was finally let in to the meeting, Biden didn’t share details on what was discussed. The incident has sparked concerns about Biden’s commitment to transparency and freedom of the press.
1.5 hours and counting outside the room where President Biden is meeting with Turkish leader Erdogan. We were supposed to go in for a picture and remarks at the start. Turkish official media was allowed in. We have not been. No explanation. #freepress pic.twitter.com/pXKojjXDMO
— Anne Rumsey Gearan (@agearan) June 14, 2021
Source: One America News Network
