Obama Calls Paris Events 'An Attack on the Civilized World'

Antalya, Turkey: President Barack Obama said on Sunday that the "skies have been darkened by the horrific attacks" in Paris and pledged again that the United States would stand with the French as they pursue the terrorists who killed at least 129 people and wounded hundreds more.

"We stand in solidarity with them in hunting down the perpetrators of this crime and bringing them to justice," Obama said after meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey at the start of a 10-day trip that will also take him to the Philippines and Malaysia.

"The killing of innocent people based on a twisted ideology is not just an attack on France, not just an attack on Turkey, it is an attack on the civilized world," said Obama, who met face to face with President Vladimir Putin of Russia later in the day at the Group of 20 meeting here.

Erdogan also strongly condemned the Paris attacks and said that the leaders gathering here for the annual economic summit meeting would take a "firm stance" against terrorism by issuing a strong statement. "We are confronted with a collective terrorism activity around the world," he said.

For Obama, the meeting of the world's industrialized and emerging economies was intended to be an opportunity to showcase the strength of the U.S. recovery and to rally support for a pact to be finalized at a climate change conference in Paris that begins on Nov. 30.

But White House officials said after the Paris terrorist attacks that Obama would spend a significant amount of time at the summit meeting in consultations with his counterparts about how to respond to the growing threat posed by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, outside Iraq and Syria.

Among the questions facing Obama and his colleagues during their two days in this Mediterranean resort town is whether they need to fundamentally rethink their approach to a foe they once viewed as having limited interest in reaching beyond Iraq and Syria.

Obama praised Turkey as a "strong partner" in the fight against the Islamic State. The United States will "redouble our efforts, working with other members of the coalition to bring about a peaceful transition in Syria and eliminate Daesh," Obama said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

Obama administration officials said on Sunday that the president had warned for more than a year of the danger that Islamic State fighters pose to Europe, the United States and beyond. In a speech in September 2014 announcing airstrikes against  the militant group in Iraq, Obama argued that point.

"If left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond that region, including to the United States," Obama said at the time. "While we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland, ISIL leaders have threatened America and our allies."

That prediction came true in January when terrorist attacks at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper, left a dozen dead and an attack at kosher supermarket killed four. Friday's much larger attacks in Paris highlighted that the theoretical dangers have become all too real.

The Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Beirut last week that killed dozens of people, and for bringing down a Russian jet over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt that killed all 224 people aboard.

Obama is expected to hold a series of meetings on Sunday with other world leaders, including a dinner to discuss global terrorism that was scheduled before the Paris attacks. The leaders are also expected to discuss efforts by Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts to organize a peace plan to end the Syrian civil war that began more than four years ago.

On Saturday, Kerry and top diplomats from more than a dozen countries agreed to a timetable that could lead to a cease-fire in Syria and, eventually, to a political transition in the war-torn country.

Obama said on Sunday that he discussed with Erdogan the huge influx of refugees from the Syrian war into Turkey. The president said the two leaders discussed how to "help those who need help right now, even as we hope to reduce the flow of migrants."

The president will meet with King Salman of Saudi Arabia on Sunday evening in Turkey, a last-minute addition to Obama's schedule, White House officials said.

Officials for the United States and Russia did not say what Obama and Putin discussed, but their conversation, which was captured by a closed-circuit television camera and shown to reporters in a nearby hotel, appeared to be animated.

The two men leaned in as they used their hands to punctuate their discussion while sitting on dark-colored couches. They were joined by Susan E. Rice, Obama's national security adviser, and by a man who appeared to be serving as an interpreter.

The relationship between Putin and Obama has grown increasingly tense, especially since the Russian leader began an air campaign in Syria just days after another tense conversation with the U.S. president, during the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.