(Ankara) American Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Turkey on Monday with the mission of appeasing the anger of one of Washington’s most strategic allies, but also the most difficult, in the midst of the war in Gaza.
Mr. Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan began their first meeting shortly after 10:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. Eastern Time) in Ankara since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, launched by the attack perpetrated on October 7 by Hamas fighters.
The interview comes as anger against Israel and the West is being heard in Turkey, expressed in the streets and by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who chose to travel to a remote region in the northeast of the country on Monday, a decision that looks like a snub to Mr. Blinken.
Turkish police on Sunday used tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of protesters who had gathered outside an air base housing US forces in southeastern Turkey.
Some 10,000 people have been killed, half of them children, according to the Hamas government, in devastating Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli offensive.
The operation began after Hamas fighters killed more than 1,400 people and took more than 240 people from the Gaza Strip they control, according to Israeli authorities, in the deadliest attack in the history of Israel.
This war threatens to have significant repercussions on relations between Washington and Turkey, both a member of NATO and involved in conflicts in the Middle East.
“Crocodile Tears”
Washington is impatient to see the Turkish Parliament give the green light to Sweden’s membership in NATO, which is currently blocked.
The United States also increased sanctions on Turkish individuals and companies suspected of helping Russia evade sanctions and import equipment used in its war effort against Ukraine.
Ankara is unhappy that the US Congress is delaying approval of a deal backed by President Joe Biden, which aims to modernize the Turkish Air Force with F-16 fighter jets.
Turkey has also long expressed reservations about American support for Kurdish forces in Syria who have led the fight against the jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) group, which Ankara considers to be affiliated with the Kurdish PKK movement, banned in Turkey. .
Ankara has intensified airstrikes against Kurdish armed groups in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for an attack in the Turkish capital in October, claimed by the PKK.
Mr. Blinken’s visit follows a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, during which he traveled to the West Bank for talks on Sunday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The American diplomat had to face a chorus of Arab calls for a cease-fire. Israel says it could agree to a humanitarian pause to allow additional aid to arrive, but only on the condition that Hamas releases all of its hostages.
Mr. Blinken supported the Israeli position, while trying to assure regional actors that Washington was focused on alleviating the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza.
On Sunday, Erdogan said his country was “working behind the scenes” with its regional allies to try to ensure an uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
But he cut all contacts with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and recalled Ankara’s ambassador to Israel in protest.
The Turkish president also accused the West of applying double standards in the region and losing its moral authority.
“Those who shed crocodile tears for the civilians killed during the war between Ukraine and Russia are today quietly witnessing the murder of thousands of innocent children,” Mr. Erdogan lambasted at the end of October.