Istanbul, February 19. – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will arrive in Turkey this Sunday to visit the areas affected by the two February 6 earthquakes and tomorrow he will travel to Ankara, where he will meet his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavusoglu, in what is his first official visit to the Eurasian country.
The head of the American diplomacy visits Turkey to show its solidarity with the country and to transmit its condolences to the affected people, indicates a note of the Turkish ministry for the Foreign Affairs, specifying that it will meet Çavusoglu in Ankara on Monday.
Blinken’s official diary says the politician will first visit Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, on the outskirts of the city of Adana, which was moderately affected by the earthquake.
From 12:30 GMT, Blinken will visit with Çavusoglu the neighboring province of Hatay, one of the most destroyed, then he will inspect the airbase’s aid logistics area and at 15:00 he will meet relatives of the Turkish soldiers affected because of the earthquake.
He will also meet with American rescue teams and members of the White Helmets, a Syrian humanitarian aid organization, according to the agenda published by Washington.
Tomorrow, Blinken will be in Ankara, where, in an official act, he will thank Çavusoglu for Turkish cooperation in delivering humanitarian aid to earthquake-affected areas in Syria.
It is Blinken’s first visit to Turkey, traditionally a major US ally in NATO but plagued by diplomatic tensions with the White House for years.
Blinken arrives from Munich, where he has been taking part in the Security Conference since Thursday, and from Turkey he will continue his trip to Greece.
On Tuesday, he will meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and opposition leader Alexis Tsipras in Athens.