Turkey will be the US diplomat’s first stop on a week-long tour and which will lead him from Turkey to Greece, and in 7 other countries in the region. Key issues in his contacts will be, as stated by the State Department, “Israel’s ongoing military operation against Hamas after October 7, urgent measures to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza and release the remaining hostages.”

Visiting Turkey is actually complicatedas the war in Gaza revolves around a series of bilateral issues between Ankara and Washington that are in the process of a difficult negotiation, such as the slow process of approving Sweden’s accession to NATO, but also the slow process for the procurement of F-16s. As the Turkish press reports today, “certainly, issues will also be raised on the discussion table with Blinken, such as don’t let the US upset the balance of armaments in the Aegean.” The main discussions of Blinken and his delegation with the Turkish side will take place tomorrow, Saturday. There is no confirmation about the possible meeting with the Turkish president, however, Erdogan will be in Istanbul to attend two events.

Blinken’s next stop is Chania

However, Ankara’s bargain for Sweden will continue. The representative of the ruling party, Omer Celik, said yesterday that the next step for Sweden lies in the will of the Turkish Parliament, adding that the issue of Sweden it should have nothing to do with F-16s. Our NATO allies should contribute to our defense and not take a stand which would create a gap in the defense of the entire NATO”.

Turkish analysts are watching on Blinken’s trip to the dead end area which has been created with the possibility of the Gaza crisis spreading to the countries of the region and the Ukraine issue. Especially for Blinken’s presence in Ankara, they see the intention of the Americans to prevent the alignment of Ankara with Tehran. However, they also point out that the Blinken’s visit from Turkey to Greece also signals the intention of the US to continue the normalization process both in Cyprus and in Greek-Turkish relations.