WASHINGTON — When Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Turkey on Sunday, talks meant to focus on NATO expansion and other thorny issues will be clouded by the devastating earthquake from which the country is still reeling. 

Blinken’s six-day trip, which also includes stops in Turkey’s rival Greece and in Germany to attend the Munich Security Conference, was planned before the magnitude 7.8 earthquake left more than 43,000 people dead across Turkey and neighboring Syria. 

Blinken is scheduled to visit Incirlik Air Base in southeastern Turkey, which has served as the main hub for aid flowing to Turkey’s earthquake victims. Blinken will also meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara to discuss how the United States can bolster its earthquake assistance, the State Department said. 

Nicholas Danforth, a nonresident senior research fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, said the earthquake is likely to overshadow other aspects of the US-Turkey relationship during Blinken’s visit, his first to the country after more than two years in office.