American-Turkish relations at rock bottom

 

At the bottom of the American-Turkish relations: Airs, Slovenia and R.Sq.Erdogan fired three times "door" to A.Blinken -Under siege of the base of the Incirlik (vid)

Unwanted Anthony Blinken in Turkey

Arriving in Ankara, the head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, realized from the first moment that he is unwelcome in Turkey. H.Fidan and R.T.Erdogan slammed the door on him at least three times and then went on the counterattack.

There were no joint statements with H. Fandan. The Turkish Foreign Minister dribbled away from the embrace of the American Foreign Minister in an indication that "now relations are not friendly".

At the same time, Turkish President Erdogan avoided meeting him, suddenly announcing that he would be... absent. The climate for the US in the country was and is "frozen".

Indicative of the coldness was last night's low-level reception of Anthony Blinken at the Ankara airport, where he was received from the Turkish side by the vice-mayor of Ankara Namik Kemal Nazli and the director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for bilateral political relations, Ambassador Yaprak Balkan, points out the pro-government Type (Yeni Safak, Aksam, Yeni Akit).

"Complicit in the massacre of Gaza", placards of demonstrators in Istanbul called him, while in the early hours of the morning demonstrators tried again to storm a US base in northern Turkey.

Incirlik base under siege

Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannons at midday Sunday to break up a pro-Palestinian protest rally when demonstrators tried to enter Incirlik Air Base, where U.S. military forces are stationed.

The rally was organized by the Islamist-oriented Turkish NGO "IHH Humanitarian Aid Foundation". On Friday, this particular NGO started a convoy march from Istanbul, bound for Incirlik, in southern Turkey, with the aim of blocking the base.

Yesterday, the motorcade passed the last part of its route, while cars with demonstrators from the province of Urfa in southeastern Turkey also arrived in Incirlik.

This is the same organization that sent the "Mavi Marmara" ship to Gaza in 2010. The ship was part of the "Freedom Fleet" that attempted to break the blockade of Gaza and was carrying about 800 activists.

Israeli commandos stormed the ship, killing 10 activists and injuring many, including 10 Israeli soldiers. After this episode, Israel-Turkey diplomatic relations were "frozen".

The organization's president Bulent Yildirim, is asking the Turkish government to close the US bases Incirlik and Kurecik, claiming that they are part of the US plan to occupy Turkey. He has also called for a blockade of US bases around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

American-Turkish relations are at the bottom

The development of the war between Israel and Hamas and efforts to de-escalate tensions in the wider Middle East region occupied the meeting held by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, with Turkish President Tayyip. Erdogan has has been justifiably criticized Washington several times in the past days for its "unlimited support for Israel".

According to Reuters, Blinken said the meeting with Fidan was good and productive and that humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip could be significantly expanded in the coming days. According to the US minister, the two also discussed the effort for sustainable peace in the Middle East.

"We are working very aggressively to get more aid into Gaza, as well as to continue to get people out of Gaza ," Blinken said, adding that an essential aspect of achieving a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is progress on the issue of abductees held by Hamas.

He also referred to the hostage issue, which he described as critical, saying "we are intensely focused on that."

"We have been clear about extremist violence. The Israelis have made promises, we will be watching closely," concluded the US Secretary of State.

The Al Jazeera network reported that during the meeting between the American delegation and representatives of the Turkish government, the Americans tried to convince Turkey to pressure Hamas to release the abductees.

However, from the Turkish side they clarified that the agreement to release the hostages should be mutual. That is, Hamas will release the abductees it is holding and at the same time, Israel will release the Palestinian prisoners it has imprisoned.

Ankara demanded an immediate ceasefire

Also, the Turks asked the Americans for an unconditional ceasefire.

According to information coming from diplomatic sources in Ankara, Fidan "stressed the need to prevent Israel from targeting civilians in Gaza and immediately declare a full ceasefire".

In addition, as the sources said, "Turkey and the US agree on the need to prevent harm to civilians in Gaza, the need to provide humanitarian aid and the two-state solution. Today's meeting also emphasized the need to work together for the two-state solution."

Fidan also drew Blinken's attention to the fact that the bombing of civilian targets and the destruction of infrastructure in Gaza is unacceptable.

During the meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was noted that the NATO enlargement process in the context of sweden's accession, bilateral and regional issues were also discussed.

Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported that a demonstration was held outside the Foreign Ministry in Ankara by members of the Youth Union of Turkey, an anti-American organization, whose demonstrators demanded "the American killers to leave Turkey. "

Fidan's move that occupied the Turkish media

At the same time, Turkish media chose to highlight a move by Hakan Fidan during the reception of Anthony Blinken.

According to CNN Turk media Anthony Blinken tried to hug his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan to make a move and "cut off" the intention of the American Secretary of State.