US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Turkey on Saturday to discuss bilateral and regional issues, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
The top US diplomat visited Ankara in November and had almost three hours of one-on-one talks with Fidan that were focused on easing the anger at both Israel and the West of one of Washington’s most strategic but difficult allies.
NATO member Turkey has been an increasingly vocal critic of the way Israel has been pursuing its offensive in Gaza after Hamas militants staged an October 7 attack in Israel — the deadliest in the country’s history.
During the November visit President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan travelled across Turkey’s remote northeast in an apparent snub of Washington’s top diplomat.
Blinken’s talks with Fidan would have been packed with problems even before Israel launched a relentless bombing and expanding ground campaign aimed at eradicating Hamas.
Ankara has a muscular foreign policy and stakes in conflicts across the Middle East that occasionally fail to align with those of Washington or other NATO allies.
Washington is currently anxious to see Turkey’s parliament finally ratify Sweden’s stalled drive to join the US-led NATO defense organization.
The United States has also been tightening sanctions against Turkish individuals and companies that are deemed to be helping Russia evade sanctions and import goods for use in its war on Ukraine.
And Ankara is upset that the US Congress is holding up approval of a deal backed by President Joe Biden to modernize Turkey’s air force with dozens of F-16 fighter jets.
Turkey also has longstanding reservations about US support for Kurdish forces in Syria who spearheaded the fight against Islamic State group fighters but are viewed by Ankara as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community.
Ankara has stepped up airstrikes against armed Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for an October attack on the Turkish capital claimed by the PKK in which the two assailants died.