The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken met at length on Saturday in Istanbul with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during the first stage of his new tour of the Middle East which continues with a brief stopover in Greece.
Exchanges which focused on the situation in Gaza and NATO
The interview, in one of the presidential residences on the Bosphorus, lasted more than 75 minutes, according to American diplomatic sources, after a first meeting between Antony Blinken and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan. The latter, according to a diplomatic source, pleaded for “an immediate ceasefire” in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. President Erdogan, who denounces the United States’ support for Israel and describes the latter as a “terrorist” state, had shunned Antony Blinken’s previous visit to Ankara in November.
The discussions with the Turkish president focused on the situation in Gaza and Sweden’s entry into NATO, according to a press release from the State Department. Antony Blinken insisted to his host on “the need to prevent the conflict from spreading, to increase humanitarian aid, to reduce civilian casualties, to work towards lasting regional peace and to move towards establishment of a Palestinian state.
Furthermore, according to the brief press release, the American official called for “finalizing (the process) of Sweden’s accession to NATO”, which still lacks the agreement of Turkey and Hungary. After a brief stopover in Crete on Saturday evening, Antony Blinken must go to Jordan then to Israel, the occupied West Bank and other countries in the region to try to avoid a regional conflagration, three months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Antony Blinken wants to call on his interlocutors to use their communication channels with Iran to convey that the United States is not seeking escalation, but that they will defend their interests when they are attacked, according to an American official. speaking on condition of anonymity. In Syria and Iraq, attacks on American military bases have increased in recent weeks and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, are increasing attacks in the Red Sea against commercial ships, in order to hinder international maritime traffic in “support” of the Palestinians.
10 million dollars in exchange for information on Hamas
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is one of the most vocal critics of Israel, who has vowed to “destroy” Hamas in retaliation for the unprecedented attack carried out by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil on October 7, which caused some 1,140 dead, mainly civilians. Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have left 22,600 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. The Turkish president considers Hamas to be a “group of liberators”. After the bloody attack of October 7, he nevertheless discreetly asked political leaders of the movement living in Turkey to leave the country.
On Friday, the US State Department promised up to ten million dollars in exchange for information concerning five Hamas “financial facilitators”, including three residents in Turkey, according to Washington. Regarding Sweden’s membership in NATO, the other reason for Antony Blinken’s Turkish step, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish Parliament took a first step at the end of December. But Parliament must still approve the protocol by a majority to put an end to twenty months of suspense.
Ankara criticizes Stockholm for alleged leniency towards Kurdish militants taking refuge on its soil and uses its blocking power to obtain the delivery of 40 American F-16 combat planes and modernization kits for those it already has. The American government is not hostile to the sale of F-16s, but Congress has opposed it so far, according to a State Department source, by making it conditional on Sweden’s entry into the NATO.
Due to recurring tensions between Turkey and Greece – also a NATO member – Athens is worried about these deliveries, even if relations between these two neighbors have warmed up recently. Hence Antony Blinken’s brief stopover on Saturday evening in Crete to reassure the allies, before flying to Jordan.