US Secretary of State to discuss Gaza situation in detail in Türkiye

Omer Celik, an official spokesman for the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party has said that the purpose of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Türkiye will be consultations on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the conflict in general.

"It is necessary to continue close consultations on Gaza. The situation there is deteriorating, the war is dragging on. There are a lot of issues there that need to be discussed in detail. And of course, Türkiye is the country for the head of the State Department to which it is necessary to visit often to discuss these issues. I noticed this even in the situation with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Germany, the EU, apart from directly assessing the military component, failed to create a working and strong diplomatic mechanism. They should have created such a line of communication with our president," Celik said on Haberturk TV.

According to him, in the situation with the Israel-Gaza conflict, it is necessary to create a diplomatic channel with the leadership of Türkiye as a country that can contact both warring parties. "Unfortunately, right now both the US and the EU cannot demonstrate sufficient diplomatic competence in the current crises," the party spokesman said.

Blinken is scheduled to arrive in Türkiye on Friday evening. He will meet with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Dec. 6 and may be received by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The two sides are also expected to discuss Sweden's NATO bid, the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye, the problems of the imbalance of power and the military presence in the Aegean Sea.