Blinken meets Turkish, Greek leaders as Gaza diplomacy tour begins

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met the leaders of Turkey and Greece on Saturday at the start of a week-long trip aimed at calming tensions that have spiked across the Middle East since Israel’s war with Hamas began in October.

The Biden administration’s most senior diplomat began in Istanbul, meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, a strong critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

In the talks, Blinken “emphasized the need to prevent the conflict from spreading, secure the release of hostages, expand humanitarian assistance and reduce civilian casualties,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Blinken also stressed the need to work toward broader, lasting regional peace that ensures Israel’s security and advances the establishment of a Palestinian state, he said.

Blinken and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had earlier discussed Gaza, as well as Turkey’s process to ratify Sweden’s membership of the NATO military alliance, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said.

US officials have been frustrated by the length of the process, but are confident Ankara will soon approve Sweden’s accession after it won the Turkish parliament’s backing last month, said a senior State Department official traveling with Blinken, speaking on condition of anonymity.

US lawmakers have held up the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey until it signs off on Swedish membership, as reported by Reuters.

Blinken later traveled to the Greek island of Crete where he met Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Fellow NATO member Greece is awaiting US Congress approval of a sale of F-35 fighter jets.

Blinken stressed the importance of Greece’s strong alliance with Washington, while Mitsotakis said the two countries could work together to help safeguard security in a turbulent region.

“We are standing together facing some of the most acute challenges that we’ve seen. But the fact that we’re standing together… that’s a tremendous source of strength and reassurance for the United States,” Blinken said.

Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis told Skai TV earlier on Saturday that he expected positive developments on the F-35 jets sale during the discussions.

Greece has condemned the October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas that triggered Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, and backs Cyprus’ initiative for a maritime corridor to help deliver more aid to the enclave. It believes it can play an active role on that front due its historic ties with the Arab world.

Gerapetritis will meet his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts in the coming weeks.

Blinken’s current tour will include Arab states, Israel and the occupied West Bank, where he will deliver a message that Washington does not want a regional escalation of the Gaza conflict.

The US official said Turkey has relationships with many parties in the conflict, a reference to its ties to US adversary Iran and Hamas. Unlike the US, Turkey does not view Hamas as a terrorist group and hosts some of its members.

The war began when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed 22,700 Palestinians, according to Palestinian officials, and the conflict has spilled into the West Bank, Lebanon and Red Sea shipping lanes.

Blinken also hopes to make progress in talks on how Gaza could be governed if and when Israel achieves its aim of eradicating Hamas.

Washington wants countries in the region, including Turkey, to play a role in reconstruction, governance and potentially security in the Gaza Strip, which has been run by Hamas since 2007, the official said.

[Reuters]