The assessment that progress will be made on the subject of Sweden’s accession to NATO, expressed US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken after the meeting he had on Monday morning with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, in Ankara. Responding to a journalist’s question, the head of American diplomacy did not specify whether he received any specific assurances. However, he expressed his satisfaction for sending the accession protocol to the Turkish National Assembly.

As he characteristically noted, “as far as Sweden is concerned, we were very encouraged by the fact that President Erdoğan signed the ratification protocols and sent them to Parliament. And I am convinced that we will see progress on this (issue). I think there is a shared commitment to ensure that we complete the process, that Sweden joins the Alliance. This is a commitment that Turkey has, that we have, and I would expect to see it implemented.”

As for his meeting Anthony Blinken with Hakan Fidan, the State Department statement said the two ministers discussed the importance of avoiding a generalization of the conflict at the regional level, as well as the importance of protecting civilians in Gaza and the security priorities of the Euro-Atlantic alliance .

In the announcement it is noted that “Minister Blinken and foreign minister Fidan they discussed the conflict between Israel and Hamas, including the need to prevent the conflict from spreading throughout the region. Both agreed that protecting civilians and ensuring humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza is critical. The US Secretary and Secretary of State Fidan emphasized the importance of the long-standing cooperation between the US and Turkey as NATO allies and the Euro-Atlantic security priorities, which include Sweden’s NATO membership.

Finally, to a question about whether Turkey, Egypt and the Catarrh still retain enough influence over Hamas to play a mediating role in securing the release of the hostages, Mr Blinken said there was still a window of opportunity and pledged that the US would continue to work hard to achieve that goal.

“As for the hostages, you understand I cannot go into details. I can say that this is an issue that we are strongly focused on, and we also believe and see that other countries can play an important role in helping to return the hostages. I am very convinced that this is still the case and that there is still not only an opportunity, but a necessity, to see it happen. And it’s important that the other partners, to the extent that they have relationships, use those relationships to help, and I still think that’s possible,” Anthony Blinken explained.