Turkey: The Blinken-Fidan meeting ended without joint statements – what did Ankara ask for?

The meeting between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan ended at the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara without making joint statements.

The main topic of the meeting, which lasted about two hours and 40 minutes, was developments in Gaza.

Immediately after the meeting, Antony Blinken left the Turkish Foreign Ministry and is said to be leaving for Tokyo immediately.

The American minister’s reception was very cold

The cooling in American-Turkish relations appears clear after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statements that Hamas is not a terrorist organization, and the accusations he leveled against the United States because of its military presence in the region and its support for Israel.

For the Turkish side, American support for the “Democratic Forces in Syria,” which mainly consists of Kurdish militias, also constitutes a point of contention.

What indicates the coldness was the modest reception of Anthony Blinken last night at Ankara Airport, where he was received from the Turkish side by Deputy Mayor of Ankara Namik Kemal Nazli and Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for bilateral relations. Political relations, Ambassador Yaprak Balkan, refers to the pro-government type (Yeni Safak, Aksam, Yeni Akit).

The release of prisoners must be mutual

After meeting the two ministers Al JazeeraHe says in his report that the American side tried to persuade Turkish officials to put more pressure on Hamas and force it to release the prisoners.

However, the Turkish position was very clear on this issue, according to well-known Arab media. The Turkish side said that the release of prisoners should be mutual, with Hamas releasing the hostages as of October 7 and Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners.

Turkey also called for an unconditional ceasefire, and said that there should be an international mechanism to support the ceasefire, of which Ankara will be the guarantor.

According to Al Jazeera, Blinken did not refer to a ceasefire, but he once again used the term “humanitarian pause,” which Turkey described as insufficient.