U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu for a news conference on Monday in Ankara, one day after the duo visited the earthquake-hit region in southeastern Türkiye. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also received Blinken at the Esenboğa Airport, as the Turkish leader was about to leave for an expected visit to earthquake-hit areas.
Speaking at the news conference held at the Presidential Complex, Blinken said the U.S. government responded “within hours” to the disaster and sent hundreds of personnel and relief supplies. But he said that ordinary Americans had also responded to the quake zone, where nearly 45,000 people have died.
“We have nearly $80 million in donations from the private sector in the United States, (from) individuals. When I visited the Turkish Embassy in Washington, I almost couldn’t get in the front door because boxes were piled high throughout the driveway to the embassy," Blinken said. “Türkiye faces a long road ahead to support those rendered homeless and to rebuild ... and we’re committed to providing support.”
Çavuşoğlu welcomed U.S. support in the disaster's aftermath. “I would like to thank them for not leaving us alone during these challenging times,” he said. He said Türkiye and the United States also had a positive agenda in terms of economy and trade, with increasing investments and highlighted that military relations were also an important dimension of strategic partnership between the two countries.
The minister said they also discussed counterterrorism efforts, adding they highlighted an end to U.S. support to the PKK terrorist group's Syrian wing, the YPG, and the presence of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) in the United States. Çavuşoğlu also criticized the U.S.' support for the PKK/YPG, in war-torn Syria, emphasizing that it was "a deadly mistake" to support it for the sake of fighting another terrorist group, Daesh. For his part, Blinken said they understood Türkiye's legitimate security concerns on its southern border and pledged to closely work together to address those concerns.
Blinken arrived in Türkiye over the weekend to show solidarity with the NATO ally following two earthquakes on Feb. 6 and announce a new aid package worth $100 million (TL 1.89 billion).
He earlier met Çavuşoğlu at Incirlik Air Base in southern Türkiye, through which the United States has shipped aid. Blinken then accompanied the minister in a helicopter to view the damage wrought by the disaster in Hatay province. The new aid "will be moving soon. Sadly, it's a little less about search and rescue but long-term recovery," Blinken told reporters on Sunday. "This is going to be a long-term effort. It's going to take a massive effort to rebuild, but we're committed to supporting that effort," he said. Washington has now contributed $185 million in assistance to Türkiye and Syria, he added. The trip had been planned before the earthquake. On Twitter, the White Helmets group said they had met Blinken in southern Türkiye to discuss "the response to the earthquake in NW #Syria, the humanitarian situation, ways to support affected civilians, and mechanisms for achieving early recovery. The group's deputy director, Farouk Habib, told Blinken he was grateful for U.S. support after the quake, while Blinken offered condolences and commended the rescuers' heroic efforts," the group tweeted. Blinken also referred to their meeting on Twitter, adding: "Thank you for your heroic efforts to rescue Syrians after the earthquakes. The United States is proud to support you and other organizations providing life-saving aid in response to this tragedy."
The schedule for Blinken's visit, his first to Türkiye since taking office in 2021, included meeting officials coordinating the delivery of U.S. aid and seeing the humanitarian effort underway in Hatay. The U.S-Türkiye relations have been strained in recent years, but Washington has since viewed Ankara as helpful for its mediatory role between Russia and Ukraine since the conflict broke out between the two countries last year.
Çavuşoğlu said Türkiye expected the United States to lift unilateral sanctions as soon as possible. The minister said they also expected the U.S. administration to send formal notification for F-16 fighter jets to Congress as finalizing the deal would be beneficial for both sides.
Blinken said the U.S. and Türkiye acted together in the face of common security concerns and hailed Türkiye for supporting Washington in its response to the Russian attack on Ukraine and Ankara's support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He praised Türkiye's diplomatic leadership on the issue and lauded Çavuşoğlu personally for his role in the U.N.-backed grain deal. He added that the U.S. valued Türkiye's contribution to the NATO alliance, adding that they would continue working together and expand their relations.
He also hailed Türkiye's positive steps to improve its relations with Greece, Armenia and Israel. He said that although the U.S. did not agree upon everything, they were together in the face of challenges.
The news conference also focused on the admission of Finland and Sweden to NATO. Blinken said Washington strongly supports Sweden and Finland's quick NATO accession given the steps they have already taken, even as his Turkish counterpart stressed the need for more concrete action.
The Nordic countries' NATO bids have been stalled because Türkiye has refused to ratify them, saying Stockholm in particular has harbored members of terrorist groups – the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and the PKK. Ankara recently indicated it would approve only Finland. "Finland and Sweden have already taken concrete steps to fulfil the commitments that they met under the trilateral memorandum of agreement that they signed," Blinken said, adding that the United States strongly supported their accession into the alliance "as quickly as possible." He reiterated that NATO's Nordic expansion issue is not a bilateral one with Türkiye.
But Çavuşoğlu said all parties in the alliance must convince Sweden in particular to take more action to address Ankara's concerns and win its support for the bid. When asked if Ankara would approve their accession by a NATO summit set to take place in Lithuania in July, a gathering by which the Western countries are hoping the expansion can be completed, Çavuşoğlu said Stockholm needed to do more.
"Sweden made a law change, but we see that every kind of activity, including terrorism financing, recruitment and propaganda, is continuing in Sweden," he said. "If they take steps that convince our parliament and people, there could be a development in this direction," he added.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join the trans-Atlantic defense pact after Russia invaded Ukraine but faced objections from Türkiye.
Ankara wants Helsinki and Stockholm in particular to take a tougher line against terrorist groups. In January, President Erdoğan said he was open to ratifying only Helsinki's application.
