Secretary Blinken returns to Israel and Jordan/ Questions about the stop in Turkey

2023-11-02 15:24:09, Kosova & Bota CNA

Secretary Blinken returns to Israel and Jordan/ Questions about the stop in

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East again on Friday as the war between Israel and Hamas continues. Experts, on the other hand, are trying to understand if Mr. Blinken's itinerary will also include a stop in Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned Israel and called Hamas a "liberation group", a position at odds with Washington's views. VOA correspondent Cindy Saine reports.

As the war between Israel and the militant group Hamas continues, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to Israel on Friday, following two stops in the country, just days after the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians.

On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller was asked about the main objectives of Mr. Blinken's trip.

“Secretary Blinken will travel to Israel and Jordan on Friday. He will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli government leaders to update them on their military objectives and plans to meet them. Mr. Blinken will reiterate the United States' position on Israel's right to defend itself, in accordance with international humanitarian law, and will discuss the need to take all precautions to minimize civilian casualties. , as well as to provide humanitarian aid".

Asked if a stop in Turkey would be part of Secretary Blinken's agenda, Mr. Miller said that the only two confirmed stops were Israel and Jordan.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has joined other Middle Eastern countries in condemning Israel for its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

During a massive pro-Palestinian protest in Istanbul on Saturday, Mr. Erdogan said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a terrorist, not the militant group Hamas.

The United States and several other Western countries have designated Hamas a terrorist group. Retired US Army Colonel Rich Outzen told VOA that the Biden administration has been careful not to provoke its strategic NATO ally, but has also been reluctant to embrace Mr Erdogan's positions.

"There is a kind of reluctance to create a connection between the American administration and Erdogan and his team. Issues like photos of high-level meetings between the two presidents, or secretarial-level visits, whether Secretary Blinken goes there, or even phone calls between the presidents, these are all things that the Biden administration has handled very carefully," says Rich Outzen. , of the Atlantic Council.

International concerns are growing over Palestinian civilian casualties. Mr. Outzen says that Secretary Blinken will do what the United States has done historically in similar situations in the past, support Israel, but at the same time urge it to end security operations in Gaza as soon as possible. possible, with the aim of minimizing civilian casualties.

"I think that the main purpose of this visit to the region of Mr. Blinken will be to ensure that everyone is ready to exercise preventive diplomatic measures and, if necessary, even military measures, to keep the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Syrians, or any other actor, such as the Iranians, who support the Huthi forces in Yemen, in order not to escalate the situation into a regional conflict", says Mr. Outzen.

Iran's Foreign Minister met his Turkish counterpart on Wednesday in Turkey. The two senior diplomats shared concern over the possibility of the Israel-Hamas war spreading to Syria as well as other parts of the Middle East. Turkey has called for an immediate ceasefire, a request that Israel has rejected./ VOA