The US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived Thursday afternoon (12/12/2024) in Ankara and immediately started talks with the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoganwho was waiting for him at the airport.
Anthony Blinken’s plane landed at 20:14 local time (19:14 Greek time) and, according to a US official, the head of US diplomacy met with Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the VIP lounge of Ankara’s Esenboga Airport immediately afterwards.
Ankara is the second stop on Blinken’s tour following the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday. Earlier he was in Aqaba on the Red Sea, where he met with King Abdullah II of Jordan, with whom he agreed that the stability and security of Syria is necessary. Blinken also said the next Syrian government should be inclusive and protect minorities.
The Turkish leadership is expected to emphasize in its contacts with Blinken its concerns about stability in the region after the latest developments in Syria.
Shortly before leaving Aqaba, Blinken said the role of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a major component of which is the Syrian Kurdish militia, had played a “crucial” role in stopping the Islamic State jihadists. “We should make sure that IS does not re-emerge. And the SDF is essential to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he stressed.
The SDF controls a large swath of northern Syria, and the Kurds have established an autonomous administration there. Although allies of the West in the battle against IS, the SDF is considered by Turkey to be an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and labeled a “terrorist organization”.