WASHINGTON — The global anxiety sparked by a series of deadly attacks in Paris by the Islamic State group has given new urgency to President Barack Obama’s upcoming talks with world leaders.
The crisis in Syria, where the Islamic State group has taken root, was already high on the agenda at the meeting of 20 leading industrialized and emerging-market nations. But the violence in Paris that killed at least 129 people will dramatically change the dynamic of the talks in Antalya, Turkey, a seaside resort city just a few hundred miles from the Syrian border.
In remarks from the White House shortly after the attacks, Obama said, “We’re going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice, and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people.”
French President Francois Hollande said Islamic State militants were behind the attacks and the extremist group claimed responsibility Saturday. The White House said Saturday that no information they have contradicts the French assessment that the Islamic State group carried out the Paris attacks.
Obama met with his national security team at the White House on Saturday before departing for Turkey. His trip includes stops in the Philippines and Malaysia for a pair of Asia-Pacific summits.
The president is supposed to travel to Paris in two weeks for a high-stakes climate conference, though there’s now some doubt whether that meeting can take place in the French capital, given that securing the leaders could come at the expense of other pressing security matters.
Security is expected be extremely tight in Turkey as leaders gather for two days of talks in Antalya, where several suspected Islamic State militants were recently detained.
The president’s first meeting in Turkey is with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose ties with the White House have become increasingly strained. Their meeting wasn’t announced until shortly before Obama’s departure, underscoring the “very tense nature” of the U.S.-Turkey relationship, according to Heather Conley, a Europe expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
While Erdogan shares Obama’s desire to get Assad out of power in Syria, the two leaders have disagreed over tactics.
