Washington’s top diplomat discussed the Israel-Gaza war with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday before flying to Crete to address Greek worries about the looming sale of US fighter jets to Ankara, Agence France-Presse reported.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s high-stakes meeting with one of Washington’s most unruly NATO allies came on the first leg of a trip that includes visits to both Israel and the West Bank.
Blinken’s fourth crisis tour since the start of the conflict three months ago comes with fears mounting that the conflict will engulf swathes of the Middle East.
A senior US administration official said Blinken would press Israel to increase aid to Palestinians and move to a phase of combat that allows the displaced to start returning to their homes.
The official added that much of the discussions with Arab leaders will focus on containing the violence and looking at how the region can be governed once the fighting ends.
İstanbul served as a base for Hamas political leaders until raids on Israel killed around 1,200 people and triggered a reprisal offensive that the Gaza health ministry says has claimed more than 22,700 lives — most of them women and children.
Turkey asked the Hamas chiefs to leave after some were captured on video celebrating the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.
Strident critic
President Erdoğan has since turned into one of the Muslim world’s harshest critics of the scale of death and destruction happening in Gaza — and of Washington’s support for Israel.
Erdoğan has compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler and accused the United States of sponsoring the “genocide” of Palestinians.
He has also rebuffed US pressure to cut off the suspected flow of funding through Turkey to Hamas and defended the group as legitimately elected “liberators” fighting for their land.
The US State Department on Friday announced $10 million in rewards for information about five alleged Hamas foreign operatives — three of them believed to be based in Turkey — thought to be helping finance the Iran-backed group.
Turkey this week countered by detaining 34 people suspected of planning attacks against Palestinians and spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
Erdoğan began to tone down his most strident comments after US President Joe Biden last month called the Turkish leader for the first time since the war broke out.
The call helped push along NATO member Turkey’s glacial progress in accepting Sweden into the US-led defense organization in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
A parliamentary committee approved Sweden’s application in late December.
Some analysts believe Biden’s call also secured Blinken’s meeting with Erdoğan. The Turkish leader notably left the capital during Blinken’s last visit two months ago.
Assurances
Blinken’s visit was played down by Turkish officials and few immediate details were disclosed.
Turkish state media released an official photo of Blinken shaking Erdoğan’s hand at one of the Turkish leader’s İstanbul residences.
The Turkish foreign ministry issued a two-line statement saying Blinken and counterpart Hakan Fidan discussed “the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Sweden’s NATO accession process, bilateral and regional issues.”
Blinken will hope to win assurances that a ratification vote on Sweden’s accession to NATO will be held soon by Turkey’s parliament.
Erdoğan has been able to use Turkey’s veto power to compel Sweden to take a tougher stance with Kurdish groups in Stockholm that Ankara views as “terrorists.”
He has also been trying to make Sweden’s approval conditional on the US delivering 40 US F-16 fighter jets and nearly 80 modernization kits for Turkey’s aging air force.
Biden’s administration officially backs the sale, but it has been unable to overcome resistance in Congress from lawmakers who express alarm about Turkey’s position on Sweden and past military standoffs with historic rival Greece.
Blinken was to travel to the Greek island of Crete later Saturday for talks with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Athens has fiercely resisted the US jet sales because of longstanding territorial disputes with Turkey in the energy-rich eastern Mediterranean region.
Greece is seeking to purchase a batch of more advanced F-35 jets from the United States to counter the perceived Turkish threat.