Joe Biden's criticisms of Erdogan incur the wrath of Turkey, which accuses the Democratic candidate of being "interventionist"

An old video of Democratic leader Joe Biden, who is running for the White House in the November elections, has provoked a barrage of criticism and unrest in Turkey. Biden, in an interview recorded by the US newspaper, The New York Times, in December 2019, openly criticised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who described him as an "autocrat" and condemned his policy towards the Kurdish population.

"We should take a very different approach with Erdogan, make it clear that we support the leaders of the opposition," the Democratic leader said.

Although the interview was published on paper in 2019, it was not until now, when the video was circulated again on the networks, that Ankara reacted to Biden's statements.

As the AFP news agency reports, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu has seen in these statements an admission of US involvement in the failed coup attempt against Erdogan in July 2016. At that time Biden was the vice president of Barak Obama's administration.

"I still believe that if we were to engage (with the opposition) more directly as I did with them, we could support the elements of the Turkish leadership that still exist and make more of them and embolden them to confront and defeat Erdogan," Biden said.

Turkish president's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin threatened the former vice president on Saturday on his Twitter account: "You will pay the price", adding that "Joe Biden's analysis of Turkey is based on pure ignorance, arrogance and hypocrisy".

The day before, the director of communication for the Turkish Presidency, Fahrettin Altun, denounced on the same social network the "interventionist attitudes" of Biden and Washington. "These comments are not in line with democracy and the nature of Turkish-American relations," he added. Altun recalled that the United States is an ally of Ankara within NATO and that "Turkey will never be a country that can be used as a tool for political games".

The Turkish opposition has not welcomed these statements either. Accused of being in the pay of foreign powers, members of the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party, according to AFP, rushed to defend "Turkish sovereignty" and to distance themselves from Joe Biden's demonstrations.

Erdogan has worked in recent years to cultivate a good relationship with his American counterpart, and statements by the Turkish leader against Barack Obama are frequent. Relations between Ankara and Washington became strained during Obama's second term (2012-2016), mainly due to disagreements over Syria and increasing attacks on freedoms in Turkey.

Turkey's 2019 anti-terrorist operations in northern Syria caused increased tensions between Ankara and Washington, but the close relationship between Erdogan and Donald Trump, as well as the White House's efforts to neutralise the measures taken by the US Congress against Turkey helped to resolve these tensions.

Trump himself has come to Erdogan's defense following Biden's controversial video and has singled out the Turkish leader as "a world-class foreign policy chess player. In a speech on Fox News, the US president made a series of strong criticisms of his rival in the presidential race: "Biden could not fight those people in an arena with very astute world leaders".

In recent days, the United States has denounced Turkey's activities in the eastern Mediterranean. A group of senators has urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to demand that Ankara stop its provocations against Greece and Cyprus.