Blinken to pledge quake support on first Turkey visit

Blinken will visit Incirlik air base, through which the United States has shipped aid, and then hold talks in the capital Ankara on "continued US support," State Department spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday.

The top US diplomat will also take part in the Munich Security Conference, where the Ukraine war and tensions with China will take center-stage, and will visit Turkey's historic rival Greece, a fellow NATO ally.

The United States has flown in some 200 rescuers and contributed an initial $85 million in relief for Turkey, deploying Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters to bring supplies to worst-hit areas.

The visit, which was being planned before the February 6 earthquake that has killed nearly 40,000 people in the country and neighboring Syria, will be the first by Blinken to Turkey after more than two years in office.

President Joe Biden was elected after promising to take a greater distance from his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom Biden has previously branded an autocrat.

But the Biden administration has since viewed Turkey as helpful for a mediatory role between Russia and Ukraine, including in a deal to ship grain through the Black Sea to alleviate world shortages.

The Biden administration has voiced support for Turkey's request to buy F-16 fighter-jets but the sale is being blocked in Congress due to concerns over Turkey's human rights record and threats to Greece.

The United States has been seeking ways to encourage Erdogan to lift his objections to NATO membership by Sweden and Finland, which have shed earlier neutrality since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey has been the key holdout, with Erdogan pressing Sweden to crack down on Kurdish militants seen by Ankara as terrorists.

After signs of progress, Erdogan renewed objections to Sweden after a protest outside Turkey's embassy at Stockholm at which a far-right activist torched Islam's holy book the Koran.

The United States in recent years has also been angered by Turkey's purchase of an advanced air defense system from Moscow, saying it could help NATO's primary adversary hone in on Western fighter-jets.

Blinken is expected to discuss tensions with Turkey when he travels on Monday to Athens, although the temperature has cooled since the earthquake as Greece provides assistance to its neighbor.

Blinken will start his trip Thursday in Frankfurt and then head to the Munich Security Conference, the annual gathering of leaders that is taking place a week before the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In Munich, Blinken will join Vice President Kamala Harris, who is part of a slew of US officials visiting Europe around the anniversary, with Biden due in Poland next week.

Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi is also expected in Munich, offering a potential chance for a meeting with Blinken, although US officials said nothing was decided.

Blinken had been due to travel earlier this month to Beijing in the first trip by a top US diplomat in more than four years, seeking to prevent tensions between the world's two largest economies from spiraling out of control.

But he abruptly canceled the trip after the United States said that a Chinese surveillance balloon, later shot down, was spotted over the US mainland.