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Hours after an unannounced stop in Iraq, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey in the early hours of Monday (local time) to hold a key diplomatic meeting, CNN reported.
Turkey happens to be his last stop in the region before heading to Asia. Blinken is expected to meet with Turkish officials on Monday morning to discuss the Israel-Hamas war. Notably, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been immensely critical of Israel's offensive in Gaza, calling the actions "crimes against humanity" and saying this weekend he was suspending communications with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Turkey has also recalled its ambassador to Israel for "consultation". Blinken has travelled to Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, Cyprus, and Iraq so far as part of his whirlwind diplomatic trip, CNN reported. Earlier on Sunday, Blinken reached Iraq in an unannounced visit and held discussions with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani about the need to prevent the spillover of the Israel-Hamas conflict. The two leaders discussed the conflict between Israel and Hamas and the need to prevent the conflict from spreading, including in Iraq, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. "In Iraq, I met with Prime Minister @MohamedShiato underscore that we must prevent the conflict from spreading. I urged him to hold accountable those responsible for attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq and discussed our work to deliver humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza," Blinken posted on X (formerly Twitter). Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Blinken said his discussion with the prime minister was "good and productive", and added that he made clear that attacks by Iranian-backed militias against US personnel are "totally unacceptable". Regarding the situation in Gaza, Blinken said negotiations on a humanitarian pause in the fighting are a "process," but that US and Israeli teams are meeting Sunday to "work through the specifics, the practicalities of these pauses." "Israel has raised important questions about how humanitarian pauses would work. We've got to answer those questions. We're working on exactly that," CNN quoted him as saying. (ANI)
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