Blinken-Erdogan meeting in Istanbul. The war in Gaza and Sweden's accession to NATO, on the agenda
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday. The discussions focused on the war in the Gaza Strip and Sweden's accession to NATO, reports AFP, quoted by Agerpres.
According to US diplomatic sources, the meeting began at noon after a meeting between Antony Blinken, who arrived in Turkey on Friday evening, and his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement that "the ministers discussed the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the process of Sweden's accession to NATO, and bilateral and regional issues."
The US secretary of state has started in Turkey a new regional tour, which will last until January 11, and will take him to Israel, the occupied West Bank and five Arab countries, to advocate for increased aid to Gaza and to try to avoid a regional conflagration, three months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
The quoted source also writes that the official plans to press Israel on the next phase of military operations, to increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in Gaza and to start a dialogue on the period after the end of the war.
