Top US diplomat arrives in Türkiye for talks on quake aid, NATO expansion

ANKARA

Turkish and American top diplomats will discuss the next stages of the United States’ assistance to Türkiye in the aftermath of Feb. 6’s devastating earthquakes, bilateral issues, including the sale of F-16s to the Turkish army, and NATO’s expansion with Sweden and Finland.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will host U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Ankara on Feb. 20 and will jointly address the reporters following talks. This will be Blinken’s first visit to Türkiye. The two men met in Washington D.C. in mid-January to chair the Turkish-American strategic mechanism.

Flying from Munich, where he attended the security conference, Blinken’s first stop in Türkiye was the İncirlik military base in the southern province of Adana, which has turned into a coordination center for the American relief operations. There, he was briefed about the ongoing works. He was later scheduled to tour some earthquake-hit areas via air before moving to the Turkish capital.

Before the talks with Çavuşoğlu, the American diplomat will visit Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of modern Türkiye founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

In Ankara, talks are likely to be based on three main issues. First, the U.S. top diplomat will show solidarity and convey his condolences to the people of Türkiye, who lost more than 40,000 lives. He is expected to repeat the U.S. commitment to continuing assistance in coordination with the Turkish government. The two men will review some important items on the bilateral agenda, particularly the U.S. sale of F-16s to Türkiye. Although the Biden administration expresses its intention to authorize the supply, the process needs to be approved by the U.S. Congress. Expelled from the fifth generation F-35 fighter jet program because of its deployment of the Russian S-400 air defense system, Ankara presses on its NATO ally to deliver 40 new F-16s and 79 modernization kits for its existing fleets to avoid weakness in the air forces.

Blinken and Çavuşoğlu are also expected to exchange views on the accession processes of Sweden and Finland in NATO. The U.S., NATO and most of the allies believe it is time for the two Nordic states to join the alliance, but Ankara stresses that it can only ratify Finland at the time being as Sweden fails to meet an agreement brokered between these three countries in mid-2022.

Blinken due in Greece after Türkiye trip

The U.S. diplomat will travel to Greece following his visit to Ankara. He is expected to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and the main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras.

Secretary Blinken will launch the fourth round of the U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue on Feb. 21.