US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met his Turkish counterpart throughout his difficult tour of the Center East aimed toward easing regional tensions over the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Blinken met with Turkish International Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara for 2 and a half hours on Monday morning however was rebuffed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Blinken’s fundamental mission was to purchase extra time [for Israel],” Tamer Qarmoot, professor of public coverage on the Doha Institute for Graduate Research, informed Al Jazeera. “And the Turks know this. That is why he obtained this chilly reception.”
Blinken’s journey to Turkey follows tense conferences with Arab leaders in Iraq, Palestine and Jordan final weekend.
Arab and Muslim leaders have expressed frustration at Washington’s staunch help for Israel because the nation continues its months-long assault on Gaza, killing almost 10,000 individuals, greater than a 3rd of them youngsters.
Washington has supported the necessity for a “humanitarian pause” within the combating however has failed to affix a lot of the world in calling for a full ceasefire.
Blinken’s mission, his second within the area because the conflict started, has discovered restricted help for his efforts to restrict the affect. Israel has rejected US calls for for a pause in combating, whereas Arab and Muslim nations have urged a direct ceasefire to ease the rising variety of casualties in Gaza.
Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Ankara, recommended Blinken and Fidan discovered few areas of settlement.
“The American facet tried to persuade Turkish officers to place extra stress on Hamas and power Hamas to launch the prisoners,” he stated. “However the Turkish place was very clear on this problem. They stated the discharge of prisoners needs to be reciprocal, with Hamas releasing prisoners and Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners.”
“Turkey additionally requested for an unconditional ceasefire and stated there needs to be a world mechanism to stick to the ceasefire, which Ankara would assure,” Serdar continued. “However we’ve not heard something a couple of ceasefire from Blinken. He has used the time period humanitarian pause and the Turkish facet has informed him that this isn’t sufficient.”
Turkey, which is a strategic ally of the US regardless of quite a few overseas coverage variations, has been considered one of Israel’s fiercest critics within the area because the conflict broke out. Israel is accused of behaving like a “conflict legal” and committing a “bloodbath.”
On Saturday, Ankara recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv, with Erdogan saying he had “written off” dealings with Netanyahu.
The Turkish chief has equally sharply criticized Western powers for supporting Israel amid the bloodshed in Gaza.
“Those that shed crocodile tears for the civilians killed within the conflict between Ukraine and Russia are actually quietly watching the homicide of hundreds of harmless youngsters,” Erdogan stated final month.
Public anger
Turkey’s frustration with Washington was evident throughout Blinken’s go to.
In an obvious snub, Erdogan ditched Blinken and traveled by way of northeastern Turkey so he may seek the advice of along with his overseas minister.
Hours earlier than Blinken’s arrival, a whole lot of protesters gathered exterior an air base the place US troops are stationed in southeastern Turkey. Police reportedly broke up the protests with tear gasoline and water bottles.
“There may be monumental discontent right here,” stated Al Jazeera correspondent Resul Serdar, talking from Ankara. “The organizers [of the protest] attempting to place monumental stress on the American and Turkish governments to cease the conflict in Gaza.”
Cracks in overseas coverage
The US’s tense relationship with Turkey precedes the Hamas-Gaza conflict, with the 2 nations feuding over overseas coverage points starting from NATO to Iraq.
Ankara is pissed off by the delay in US Congress’ approval of a $20 billion deal for 40 F-16 fighter jets. Washington is ready for Turkey to ratify Sweden’s request to affix NATO.
Including to tensions, the US has stepped up sanctions towards Turkish entities it says are serving to Russia evade sanctions and import war-related items.
Turkey can also be offended about US help for Kurdish fighters in Syria who’re combating ISIL (ISIS), however whom Ankara considers a part of the armed group Kurdistan Staff’ Celebration (PKK), which is banned by Turkey, the US and the European Union. Union.
Because the conflict in Gaza continues, Erdogan has sought to place Turkey as a mediator to cease the violence and transfer towards an impartial Palestinian state.
He has stated Ankara is working “behind the scenes” with regional allies to dealer a ceasefire and safe an uninterrupted stream of humanitarian support to Gaza.
“Our precedence is to shortly set up a humanitarian ceasefire,” Erdogan stated on Friday, including that Turkey was engaged on “new mechanisms that can assure the safety of everybody, no matter whether or not they’re Muslims, Christians or Jews.” .
“Our efforts to put the inspiration for a world peace convention proceed,” he stated.
