The US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkenwas interviewed this Saturday in Istanbul with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogana meeting that, according to the official agenda, was going to focus on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the planned Turkish ratification of the accession of Sweden in the NATO.
“The president has met with the foreign minister of the United States, Anthony Blinkenin it Vahdettin mansion“, confirmed a message from the Turkish Presidency on the X network (formerly Twitter), with a photo of both politicians.
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The Turkish Foreign Minister also participated in the meeting, to which the press did not have access, Hakan Fidanthe head of the Turkish secret services (MIT), Ibrahim Kalinand the American ambassador in Ankara, Jeff Flakereports the Turkish agency Anadolu.
The meeting took place after Fidan received Blinken at 9:00 GMT.
At that meeting, both diplomats spoke of “the war in Gazathe humanitarian crisis and the access process Sweden to the NATOin addition to bilateral and regional issues”according to a tweet from the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Gaza is the main issue on Blinken’s agenda on this trip, whose first stop is Istanbul and which will continue until Thursday in eight other countries in the region: Greece, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, West Bank and Egypt.
The envoy’s tour Washington takes place at a time when Israel’s war against the radical Islamist group Hamas threatens to escalate and expand in the region.
But in Türkiyean important point is the integration of Sweden into the Atlantic Alliancesince the approval of Ankaranext to that of Budapestto complete the Nordic country process.
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The Turkish Parliament will vote on the proposal starting January 16, when the winter recess ends, in what could be a mere formality, since the majority in the chamber falls to the coalition of Erdogan’s party, the Islamist AKP, which governs the country, with the ultranationalist MHP.
But Erdogan has insisted on linking that ratification with the sale of F-16 fighters to Türkiyeagreed for years but blocked by the US Congress, and has suggested that Parliament will take an attitude “more positive” if an agreement is reached on the fighters.
Blinken plans to continue his trip around 2:00 p.m. GMT to fly to Cretewhere he has a meeting scheduled to meet today with the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakiswith whom he will address, above all, the ukrainian war.
