Blinken ends Middle East tour in Turkey, no Gaza 'humanitarian pause' in sight
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken completed his Middle East tour in Turkey as anti-US protests ramped up in the country.
ANKARA — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan for urgent Gaza talks on Sunday as the top US diplomat's Middle East tour failed to garner sufficient support for a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war.
Blinken, who traveled to Turkey from Iraq, spoke with Fidan for more than two and a half hours in their first face-to-face meeting in Ankara. No press conference followed the meeting and as of this writing, the sides had not released a readout.
Turkish diplomatic sources speaking to the Turkish press said Fidan reiterated Turkey’s call for an immediate cease-fire during the meeting. The two sides agreed on the need to prevent civilians from being harmed in Gaza and to deliver them humanitarian aid, they said.
Stressing the need to work together to achieve a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Fidan also reiterated that targeting civilians and destroying infrastructure in Gaza was unacceptable, sources said.
