Blinken in Turkey, for aid to earthquake, Finland's NATO membership

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey on Sunday for an official visit.

He held discussions with Turkish authorities on Washington's further assistance to Ankara, while the country is facing the consequences of the February 6th devastating earthquake, which killed tens of thousands of people.

The 7.8-magnitude quake struck the southeastern part of Turkey and its neighbouring Syria. As a result, more than 45 thousand lost their lives. Over a million others have remained homeless, and the economic cost caused by the quake may amount to billions of dollars, according to predictions.

At the top of Mr. Blinken's agenda will also be the issue of NATO, Sweden and Finland membership. So far Turkey has refused to ratify their accession protocols in the alliance, saying Stockholm in particular has sheltered what Ankara calls members of terrorist groups. Turkey has recently given signals that it will only approve Finland's bid.

The senior US diplomat stopped Sunday afternoon in the southern Turkish province of Adana, and then looked up by helicopter, earthquake-hit areas accompanied by his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu. Mr. Blinken is expected to hold further bilateral talks in Ankara on Monday.

According to knowledge sources of the agenda, Mr. Blinken will also meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

The United States has already sent to Turkey a team of search-saving operations, medical medicine, concrete-breaking machinery, as well as additional $85m in humanitarian aid funds that also cover Syria. Mr. Blinken said Washington would offer another $100 million to help people in need.

Mr. Blinken's first visit to Turkey to the state secretary's quality was something that was long being worked on, but it comes two years after Mr. Blinken took office. This is in sharp contrast to what some of Mr. Blinken's ancestors did, including Hillary Clinton and Rex Tillerson, who held their first visit within three months of taking office.

Delays in this case say analysts show the level of tensions in relations between the two countries, which deteriorated especially since 2019, when Ankara bought Russian missile defence systems.

While the United States has praised Turkey for some of its actions during the Russian attack on Ukraine, experts say Washington continues to be concerned about Ankara's close relations with Moscow/ VOA.