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France to Honor Paris Attack Victims in Ceremony; Hollande, Putin Discuss Anti-ISIS Effort; Erdogan: Turkey Refuses to Apologize; Paris Attack Victims Honored in National Ceremony. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired November 27, 2015 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[04:00:11] MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Seeking common ground at a time of great tension, the leaders of France and Russia discuss coordinated action against ISIS.

Well, the blame game over Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet continues, with President Erdogan refusing to show remorse.

And, two weeks to the day after the deadly attacks that shocked the world, Parisians gather to remember those who were lost at the hands of extremists.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Max Foster in Paris. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

(MUSIC)

FOSTER: We begin with the global threat of ISIS and the international effort to defeat it. German authorities raided an Islamic cultural center in Berlin on Thursday. They arrested two men who are accused of plotting a significant criminal act against state security.

It's been exactly two weeks since the deadly attacks here in Paris. A ceremony of remembrance is set to begin here around an hour and a half to honor the victims. Actually, it's about half an hour from now.

Meanwhile, CNN has learned French authorities are being monitoring airports and rail workers with ties with radical Islam. One counterterrorism source says that more than 100 staff from the French public transport company RATP have traveled to Syria since 2012.

On Thursday, French President Hollande sat down with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The French leader has been meeting with world leaders all week to try to rally support for the fight against ISIS, the war as he describes it.

French President Hollande is calling citizens together this hour to mourn the 130 lives lost in the Paris terror attacks. Survivors and grieving families are amongst those gathering this hour for the national ceremony.

Senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann is at the war museum where the memorial service will get under way very soon.

What's the process of events, Jim?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, I'm going to show you first here a picture of flags in the windows that we're seeing coming up all over Paris. Now, President Hollande had asked people to put flags in the window, kind of a show of patriotism.

It's quite unusual actually for the French that are not wed to their flags the way Americans are. And for them to come out like this and for the president to ask them to make this kind of patriotic gesture is quite something. The president said after all the country is at war. And I think there's a feeling that that may be the case. We're at this war museum, which was also the burial place of napoleon, once a military hospital, but a place that's used. It has been used over the years for military honors.

This is the first time we're signing civilians being honored here or the 130 victims. The ceremony's about to start in a half hour or so. And we think there's about a thousand people all told who have gathered. We're watching them file in slowly, families of the victims, families and the injured who have survived and first responders and security forces, and the entire political class of the country practically. I mean, the government is here, along with politicians and all sides of the political aisle -- Max.

FOSTER: In terms of getting the tone right, it's a military affair, isn't it? This is a sort of service, a sort of ceremony you'd expect someone who died in a war to receive. But that's the tone that the president is actually trying to reflect.

BITTERMANN: Absolutely, Max. And this is the former defense minister. Alliot-Marie, going in the ceremony. She was the defense minister under Sarkozy. Former President Sarkozy's supposed to be here as well, as well as all the current serving ministers.

It's going to be a morning of a lot of music, very solemn music. And as I mentioned earlier, in fact, the victims will be honored by their names being read off, and also the honor guard will be holding each one of the victims' pictures. So, it should be quite a moving ceremony, Max.

FOSTER: OK. Well, the French president says that since France is being at war with the militant group, he came out very quickly and said that. He's vowed to destroy it and has been on a campaign to recruit world leaders to help him do it. A lot of angles to cover here.

Melissa Bell, international affairs for France 24 is with me now.

First of all, the tone of this service today, we're seeing those images. Do you think President Hollande's got it right?

[04:05:00] MELISSA BELL, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR, FRANCE24: It's controversial what he's trying to do, to make this strong symbol, to make this strong statement by having what you described a military service, a military ceremony, mostly for soldiers who've fallen in the line of duty. For these civilians, he's making a strong statement that France is at war and that these are among the fallen.

And it is not without controversy. We saw moments ago the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, arrive. Lots of the families of the victims there already taking their seats in the pews.

But not all the families are there. There are a couple of victims' families who said very publicly that they will not be attending the ceremony. Their reasons are interesting and underline really the two objections that some people have here in France today about the way that this ceremony has been organized. The family of one victim said that they will not be taking part because they believe that political capital is being made of this ceremony.

Now, of course, authorities point out that you couldn't very well have a service here without the president presiding over it. And yet there are those that are uncomfortable, that political parties, that the president representing the socialists should be in charge of the solemn ceremony in the Invalides on this occasion.

The other objection that's been raised of victims that are not at this ceremony and they're not amongst those you see on the images, is that, in fact, not enough was done after the January attacks of "Charlie Hebdo" to prevent this from happening again. That authorities should have made it impossible for jihadists who were known to go to and from Syria and to act in this way again. So, those are a couple of the areas of controversy that you're hearing in a lot of the French press this morning about this ceremony and about the way it's been --

FOSTER: I've also heard in press media, the phrase "the Bataclan generation" very often. Just describe what they're saying there.

BELL: Well, Francois Hollande has made very clear that this is a ceremony that is aimed -- that is being held in memory of those who died but also in speaking to those beyond the directives, and those of that generation. It was a generation of young people who had never felt --

FOSTER: Particularly in a concert hall, right?

BELL: Particularly in a concert hall.

FOSTER: So, they're defined by this incident. And as they grow older, Bataclan will define them.

BELL: And I think he's seeking to speak directly to them, by saying, you know, this is -- this is about you, this is about your future and to get a fairly generally apathetic generation to get more involved. And it's also what's behind his call to the French to put their flags on their balconies. There are quite a few them --

FOSTER: You can see them all around us. Actually, they come up during the day, haven't they?

BELL: And it is a very unusual site here in France. It's not something that you see terribly often. And Francois Hollande is really taking this opportunity, he's trying to speak to the French people more broadly, to pick up on what has been this extraordinary upsurge of nationalism that you've seen over the last couple of weeks.

FOSTER: President Hollande has asked people, because obviously there are only about 1,000 people able to go to the service, to engage in the service by putting flags outside their apartments, their homes, their offices, and they've been springing up all around Paris throughout the day.

Is that heartening to you? Because there's a difficult relationship sometimes with the flag in this country.

BELL: It is a difficult relationship. And, of course, right now, the attitude of the French is very much behind what the president has done, behind his actions, still very much with this country. Two weeks ago today, this all happen.

And France is still very much in shock, shock at the scale of the attacks, the randomness of the attacks, the violence of the attacks, and the fact that it is going back to what you said, this particular generation that was targeted. That part of Paris that is multi-cultural, that is open, that is out on the terraces, and that was such a soft target, that this (INAUDIBLE) taken down last Friday.

So France is still very much in shock and, of course, Francois Hollande is using that to get the French public behind, first of all, what he's trying to do outside of France, to tackle the Islamic state organization, which is not uncontroversial in itself. But also within France to try to get the country rallied around him, behind him this time because he needs their support.

What he's pushing through the French legislature is extremely controversial bits of legislation aimed at toughening France's surveillance laws, security laws, and he needs the French public behind him. So the message is very much reaching out to people saying French security is what matters, and these lives that were lost need to be honored together.

FOSTER: Melissa Bell, we'll be back with you as the service begins in 20 minutes time.

On Thursday, the French President Francois Hollande met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, meanwhile to discuss the fight against ISIS.

For more on that, let's bring in CNN's Matthew Chance from Moscow.

In many ways, this was the highlight of a global tour, but did he get what he wanted in Moscow?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's interesting, because Francois Hollande planned to come here shortly after the Paris attacks in order to try and put together that grand coalition. He's been to Washington as well, and he's met with Angela Merkel, the Italian prime minister and the British prime minister as well.

And, you know, it was always going to be a difficult challenge to bring Russia on side in the coalition, to work with the coalition more closely in tackling ISIS inside Syria.

[04:10:08] But the whole matter was complicated further, of course, by the shooting down by Turkey of that Russian warplane. The Russians are absolutely furious about it, in the sense that whole incident overshadow the meeting with Francois Hollande. The Russian President Vladimir Putin saying he doesn't believe that the Turkish claims that they didn't know it was a Russian plane they were firing at, and furious that there's been no apology, no offers of compensation from the Turks as well.

Well, serious consequences, that's what Vladimir Putin has suggested will take place or vowed will be the results of this incident. Already Russia has moved to put some of its most powerful anti-aircraft, surface-to-air missiles inside Syria, bringing in unprecedented level of firepower really to the Syrian battlefield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice-over): Suddenly Russia's war planes in Syria look much less vulnerable. This the first battery of highly-sophisticated S-400 missiles already being deployed to the combat zone. These weapons could give Russia significant control of the skies and are just part of Moscow's hard-line response to this shoot down by Turkey of one of its planes.

There's been a hard-line response to this, too.

(GUNFIRE)

CHANCE: Images of rebels shooting the Russian aircrew after they ejected over Syria, killing the pilot, drawing the Kremlin's fury. Defense officials say an intensive air bombardment coupled with Syrian artillery has now killed all the terrorists operating in the area. ISIS and other rebel groups say the Russians were targeted.

In Moscow, the French President, Francois Hollande continued his efforts to forge an international front against ISIS, and Vladimir Putin agreed to share intelligence and coordinate airstrikes. But the loss of the Russian plane at the hands of Turkey has complicated a deal, leaving the Kremlin feeling angry and betrayed.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It did not even enter our minds that we could have been struck by a party that we considered to be our ally.

CHANCE: And, amid signs that Russia is now preparing economic sanctions against Turkey for this, progress towards a grand anti-ISIS coalition may have been dealt a serious blow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: All right. Well, the Russian Prime Minister Medvedev has given his 48 hours for them to come up with various projects and measures that could be, joint projects between Turkey and Russia that could be targeted if and when sanctions are planned and announced by Russia against Ankara -- Max.

FOSTER: Matthew in Moscow -- thank you very much indeed.

Well, ever since Turkey shot down that Russian war plane this week claiming it violated Turkish airspace, relations between the countries have cooled abruptly as you were hearing there.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Becky Anderson, Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, insists that Russia was in the wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RECEP TAYYPIP ERDOGAN, PRESIDENT OF TURKEY (through translator): Well, I think if there's party that needs to apologize, it's not us. Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologize. Our pilots and our armed forces, they simply fulfilled their duties, which consisted of responding to a violation of the rules of engagement. I think this is the essence.

BECKY ANDERSONS, CNN HOST, "CONNECT THE WORLD": Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister has called this planned provocation, and Putin has accused you of deliberately driving relations between your two countries to a standstill.

Your response?

ERDOGAN: Well, first of all, there is no deliberate effort from our side to bring the relationship to a stand still. I think these are emotional attitudes to the issue. I don't think it's the right thing to say. We have never had this kind of an intention to bring the relationship to this kind of a point.

ANDERSON: They do keep coming. Putin has effectively said you stabbed him in the back is the line he used and as being -- as Turkey being an accomplice of terror. This is pretty fiery stuff, isn't it?

ERDOGAN: Well, the expression "accomplices of terror", I don't know if he used it or not.

[04:15:02] If Mr. Putin is saying that we are cooperating with Daesh, that we are accomplices, I think that will be a huge mistake, because we are doing the exact opposite. That is and Russia is not engaged in a fight against Daesh in Syria. On the contrary, they're actually targeting moderate opposition. Turkey's a country that fights against terrorism, so calling Turkey an accomplice of terrorists would be the worst thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Turkish president spoke to Becky yesterday.

Now we have this report just in. A major in Mali's army says two men have been arrested in connection with the attack on the Radisson Hotel. The two arrested are suspected to have been accomplices, yet their roles in the attack haven't been made clear. Both men were taken into custody in Bamako. Authorities are questioning the suspects.

You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. We are live in Paris. We will bring the memorial ceremony as France honors the victims of the attack in around 15 minutes from now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:11] FOSTER: Live pictures as the national remembrance ceremony gets ready to take place at the bottom of the hour in Paris. The event is to honor the 130 victims of the attacks. Survivors and victims' families are in attendance.

In just a few hours time, Pope Francis will bid Kenya farewell, before departing to Kenya. In Kenya, he stretched the need to help the poor. The pope has give and stern warning about another issue close to his heart, the environment. He says no country can act independently of a common responsibility. His comments come days ahead of a key climate change conference here in Paris.

Our Robyn Kriel is in Nairobi. She joins with the very latest on the pope's visit -- Robyn.

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, just to give you an idea of what is going on here at the stadium in Nairobi, the pontiff has just wrapped up his question and answer session with young people completely off the cuff. And he spoke -- he was very, very outspoken on a number of issues. For example, he spoke about tribalism.

And I want to get some reaction on what he said about tribalism from some of the youngsters that were present during the speech and they obviously have views of their own.

He asked us about tribalism. He asked the whole stadium to stand up. Tribalism is an issue in Kenya. He asked the whole stadium to stand up and do something. Tell us a little bit about that movement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Once again, I'm from (INAUDIBLE). I'm from Catholic Youth (INAUDIBLE) in Africa. We are delighted to be to have the pope. And in one of his talk while he was talking to have us youth in Kenya, he emphasized the need to be united. On a need to come united together, not to be divided by tribalism.

And one of his gestures for unity was to stand and hold hands together and remain united together like that, as a show of unity -- as a show of the need to become united, not to be divided by tribalism because we come from different tribes. Our faith should unite us.

KRIEL: And indeed, Kenya did face issues in 2007 and 2008 where around a thousand people were killed. He also said corruption was like sugar and that we cannot have too much corruption or our country will become diabetic. A fantastic word there.

What did you think about what he said about corruption?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, corruption is the killer in our country right now. It's the beginning of every problem we are facing. And as youth of this country, we want a corruption-free country.

So when he spoke about corruption, we were so much delighted. It was so powerful. And the president being there, there have been instances when his government has been on the spotlight on issues of corruption, so it was very powerful for the president to be here and to speak about the young people, not to taste that sugar, as he put it. Not to taste the sugar.

So, literally, I want to say that the youth heard him very well. And we want to take that. We want to stay away from that sugar. And we hope that the Kenyan government and the people who are watching in the public sector can do as much as they can to stay away from that sugar.

Even those who started tasting it a little bit, they can stay away from it, and probably we might have -- we will have a good Kenya. Corruption is making us, dividing us.

KRIEL: Thank you very much.

He also spoke about corruption in the Vatican, so he wasn't limiting it to politics. But the message was heard loud and clear by Kenyan youths and youths from across East Africa. There is a delegation from Tanzania here -- Max.

FOSTER: Robyn, thank you very much indeed.

Now, well, when Pope Francis arrives in Uganda, he's expected to address gay rights. The pontiff has made controversial comments on the issue before and has pushed for a more welcoming stance for gay people in the church, but Ugandan church leaders disapprove of the pope's outreach towards gays.

David McKenzie has this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Uganda, God isn't hard to find. In Internet cafes, boutiques and stores, at a Tuesday sermon for thousands.

(on camera): Does God love Uganda?

DAVID SSEBUGUZI, PASTOR: He does. We (INAUDIBLE). We are God's choice.

[04:25:00] MCKENZIE (voice-over): It should be fertile ground for the next pastoral visit.

(on camera): What is your message to the pope when it comes to Uganda?

SOLOMON MALE, PASTOR: His stance is simply hypocritical. He must take a stand as a leader.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): But some Ugandan priests and pastors are angry at Pope Francis' attempts to reach out to gay Christians.

MALE: You tell people this is the truth, this is the way. Homosexuality is dangerous.

MCKENZIE: (INAUDIBLE) are afraid to move together in daytime. They can't go back home. Their families have abandoned them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are screaming outside, yay, gays are here.

MCKENZIE: They live in fear of being attacked. Hauled into court, they face years in prison for acts of homosexuality and colonial era laws. They were eventually released for lack of evidence.

(on camera): Is it hurtful that people hate you so much?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so hard for us that people hate us so much because they realize we are gays.

MCKENZIE: A failed 2014 anti-homosexuality bill has done nothing to slow preachers and politicians in Uganda.

DAVID BAHATI, CABINET MINISTER: If the law says, go to jail, you have to go to jail. It's not unlike any other crime that we have in the nation and in the wild.

MCKENZIE: But Jackson and Kim say they are proud of who they are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's why I even have a question to God. I wish I could ask God. Isn't that been that gays are praying to God because that's why all these things happening?

MCKENZIE: They say no matter what happens, they will suffer together.

David McKenzie, CNN, Kampala, Uganda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Here in Paris, we're minutes away from the start of France's national remembrance ceremony. We'll bring it to you live here from CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:24] FOSTER: We're in Paris, and this is Les Invalides, where the remembrance ceremony is being held for those involved in the Paris attacks. You've got victims' families there but also survivors and members of the emergency services and key politicians as well. That service is about to begin with the national anthem.

Jim Bittermann's standing by outside.

In terms of what they're trying to express here, obviously, they're trying to remember what happened. But also, there's the sense of a military ceremony here, Jim.

BITTERMANN: Yes. This is a military institution where Napoleon is buried. It's been used over the years as a hospital. It's where former presidents have laid in state.

We're just about to see the president go by here. I see the motorcade already on the bridge, the Alexander III Bridge, which connects the right bank with the left bank here in Paris, and the motorcade just coming across the bridge now. So, the president will be arriving and, of course, the ceremony will start when he gets in place.

And you'll probably be able to see the motorcade going behind me. There are some of the motorcycle outriders arriving now. The president wanted to do this ceremony once all the victims had been identified. Some people complained it was too many days after the events. But two weeks later now the victims have been identified, and they were able to gather together the families of the victims.

Not all the families wanted to come. Some of the families in fact are protesting this. There's one family member wanted to boycott this and suggested that on Facebook that other family members should do the same, because they felt that the government hadn't done enough to prevent the attacks in the first place.

There is the motorcade going inside the entrance with the president. And I think once he gets in place we'll see the start of the ceremony, Max.

FOSTER: As President Hollande enters that military installation as Jim was describing, he very quickly after the Paris attacks started talking about a war against ISIS, and this plays into that narrative. This is where victims of war are buried and honored and in many ways, the victims of the Paris attacks are being seen as victims of war as well.

So as he arrives in there, we'll see him take his position. We'll expect to see the national anthem be played, a minute of silence, and they'll read all the names of the victims involved in the Paris attacks. So a very powerful moment for the people of France but also people from other countries as well who have their citizens caught up in these attacks as well.

And over the last week, we've seen president Hollande take this war as he described around the world. First of all, meeting David Cameron, then going to America to meet President Obama, then meeting Angela Merkel and the Italian prime minister. And yesterday, he was in Moscow to meet President Putin. This is an international campaign.

And we're going to listen in as the president arrives at the national ceremony for the Paris attacks.

(PARIS REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY)

[04:39:53] FOSTER: We're hearing the song very well-known here in France "When You Only Have Love" by Jacques Brel, as images of the victims came up on the screen.

[04:40:01] and you saw the president as he understandably obviously very emotional as he looked up there at the victims of the Paris attacks, 130 in total. They didn't all die during that day, some died later after their wounds, of course.

But next, we expect the hear the names of the 130 victims read out of the this national ceremony as people from across France and around the world tune in two weeks after those horrific attacks across Paris, two weeks ago.

(PARIS REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY)

[04:45:14] FOSTER: (INAUDIBLE) French soprano is very well- known here in Paris, Natalie Dessay, singing at the ceremony for those killed in the French attacks.

(NAMES OF 130 VICTIMS OF PARIS TERROR BEING READ)

[04:56:21] FOSTER: So they just read out 130 names there at the national memorial for the victims of the Paris attacks. They also gave the ages. The youngest -- one of the youngest 17, going right up to one name here at the age of 63 attached. That expresses the scale of this attack.

Many of them in their 30s and 40s, but what was so striking was so many were in their 20s, the Bataclan generation, something that the president had spoken of, trying to make the common point that this is a common threat, a war against ISIS, in his words, which affects every generation, including that Bataclan generation. The president looking very emotional as he considers the names that have just been read out to him.

Not just French family members there. Family members from other parts of the world as well. And they sit there, and they take in the moment as they remember their loved ones.

(PARIS REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY)

FOSTER: In a moment, the president will stand up and speak to the nation and the world, as he tries to encapsulate what this means for France, at the same time remembering the innocent victims of the Paris attacks.

They weren't just from France, just before they went into the memorial, the parents of Nick Alexander from the U.K. issued a statement saying, "We extend our love and condolences to all those who are being affected by this indiscriminate act and are proud to stand with them in unity at the memorial service on Friday."