This is Blinken’s first visit to Turkey since Israel went to war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in retaliation for its October 7 attack. The visit comes at a time when Turkish society and the presidency are simmering with anger over Israel and the West.
On Sunday, police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of protesters who staged a protest outside an air force base in southeastern Turkey hours before the US secretary of state’s arrival.
On Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan toured Turkey’s remote northeast in a move seen as ignoring Washington’s top diplomat.
Blinken’s closed-door talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara would have had many problems even without Israel’s relentless bombing and ground campaign to destroy Hamas.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said nearly 10,000 people had been killed in the more than four-week war in the Gaza Strip. people, mostly civilians.
Israel’s operation was launched after Hamas killed more than 1,400 people in the Jewish state. people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages. It is the deadliest attack on Israel in its history.
A war between Israel and Hamas could severely affect Washington’s relations with Turkey, a NATO member that has a strong foreign policy and is involved in Middle East conflict solutions.
Double standards?
Washington is pushing for the Turkish parliament to finally ratify Sweden’s stalled bid to join the US-led NATO.
The United States has also tightened sanctions on Turkish individuals and companies suspected of helping Russia evade sanctions and import goods used in its war with Ukraine.
Ankara is also concerned that the US Congress is stalling the approval of an agreement supported by US President Joe Biden to modernize the Turkish Air Force with dozens of American F-16 fighter jets.
In addition, Turkey has long had doubts about US support for Kurdish forces in Syria leading the fight against Islamic State (IS) jihadists. Ankara considers these Kurdish forces to be an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Ankara has stepped up airstrikes against Kurdish armed groups in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for an October attack in the Turkish capital blamed on the PKK that killed two attackers.
A. Blinken’s visit to Turkey was arranged as he continued his tour of the Middle East. During it, he also visited the Israeli-occupied West Bank and held talks with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
The US Secretary of State has received calls from a number of Arab countries to support the imposition of a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Israel said it would accept a humanitarian break if Hamas released the hostages.
A. Blinken supports Israel’s position, but also tried to convince the countries of the region that Washington will focus on solving humanitarian problems.
RT Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey, as a supporter of an independent Palestinian state, must immediately prevent violence.
The president noted that Ankara is currently conducting negotiations with its allies in the region to ensure the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
But he cut ties with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and recalled Ankara’s ambassador to Israel in protest.
RT Erdogan also accused the West of double standards and said the West was losing its moral authority.
“Those who shed crocodile tears over the civilians killed in the Ukraine-Russia war are now calmly watching thousands of innocent children being killed,” he said last month.
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2024-10-03 00:24:24
